Celebrities are confusing; they want to be seen everywhere yet at the same time they demand privacy. In the past few days there has been much hoopla about Abhishek Bachchan’s newborn baby girl. Even before she was born there were all sorts of assumptions and news reports about the baby. Perhaps this unwanted attention from the paparazzi made the Bachchan parivar too apprehensive about the coverage.
Reportedly, the Broadcast Editors’ Association circulated an internal memo to all television journalists listing guidelines on how the television media should behave and what to cover when Aishwarya Rai Bachchan gives birth to her first child. However, it looks like Abhishek Bachchan is now sending mixed signals to his fans and asking them to suggest names for Beti B, but at the same time refusing to share the pictures because they’re “too personal.”
We check with fans on how much is too much when it comes to the private lives of stars.
Fans are interested in knowing everything about the lives of their favourite stars, and when it was the arrival of the new family member in the Bachchan family, how can that go unnoticed? Pooja Gulati, an interior designer says, “Stars these days are well connected with their fans through popular micro-blogging sites, and if they want to share their private life with them, then what’s wrong about it? But the new-age online and broadcast media tends to go overboard with celebrities and exaggerates personal stuff related to stars.”
Arpita Mehta, a first year DU student, thinks that media should draw the line and not focus on every single detail about celebrities. She says, “There are so many shows on TV that just revolve around baseless gossip in tinsel town. These unauthentic reports are too annoying at times. Even stars are humans and they are sure to feel annoyed too. There were morphed pictures of newly born baby Bachchan and Aishwarya doing the rounds on the Internet. Later Abhishek clarified on a sarcastic note that these were not genuine. Such gimmicks will obviously annoy anyone.”
The “tabloid culture” of the West finds its counterpart in the “breaking news” on Indian TV and this form of yellow journalism kills the credibility of the news. Sushmita Singh, a media professional says, “It’s not just the top stars, today even a B-grade actor manages to get famous through a strong PR system. We cannot entirely blame the media for going crazy over celebrities because surprisingly anything related to stars gets overwhelming response. Obviously the stars too love the attention and so they make sure they get enough footage and if there’s negative publicity they blame the media for it.”