Newspapers and websites still depend on them for celebrity pictures. Paparazzi photographers are the most sought-after people in the media today. The new world order has thankfully changed that. They would get paid a measly Rs200 for each photo used, and we could use it multiple times. Often party photographers like Yogen Shah and Viral Bhayani would come to the office and wait in the lobby with a few hundred celebrity photos. The captions were written by pen behind the photos. Press releases came hand-delivered along with photographs from the event or party the day before. We had one computer in another room that had an internet connection, and we could check our emails whenever we wanted to. He gently said, “Then you’ll be doing that forever, just get used to writing on a computer instead.” And so I did. I remember telling my editor, the very old but so au courant Behram Contractor, that I would write my article in a notebook and then type it out on the computer. In fact, it was the first time I began to write on a computer. When I started working as a journalist 22 years ago, my newsroom had no internet or even computer monitors in colour. These numbers are gobsmacking, and have led to such an amazing democratisation of media that it deserves comment. Our digital prowess is renowned: According to, we have 692 million internet users and 467 social media users as of February 2023. India’s paparazzi culture is new, but I am certainly glad it has come at a time when we are ready for it. We have all seen the viral videos of these hardworking and funny men calling out to Gigi Hadid, Zendaya and Nick Jonas in the colloquial manner. These are our photographers, rudely called the paparazzi, but singularly responsible for making stars so accessible to us. Other than the powerhouses creating and fronting both these mega events, there is a small army of people who are actually bringing these visuals to us, to our phones. With ‘Naatu Naatu’ sweeping a bagful of awards, including the Oscar, and the Dior fashion house presenting an international collection in Mumbai, 2023 is indeed historic for India. India is having such a moment in the world right now.
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