'Shah Rukh Khan Avoids The Media Deliberately, Never Interacted With Any PR Related To Ranbir Kapoor': Paparazzo Manav Manglani On Reddit Chat

Manav Manglani participated in an AMA on Reddit where he answered a number of questions related to Bollywood and the relation of celebrities with the paparazzi.

'Shah Rukh Khan Avoids The Media Deliberately', 'Ranbir Kapoor Does Not Have PR Machinery Behind Him': Paparazzo Manav Manglani

New Delhi: On Monday evening, Paparazzo Manav Manglani took part in a Reddit AMA, where he addressed questions on Shah Rukh Khan's desire to avoid the media and also answered questions about Bollywood, such as which superstars are the easiest to interact with or who all have a PR machinery behind them. He also claimed that while many'spottings' occur through the stars' publicists, while some, like Taimur Ali Khan, are captured spontaneously.

Starting with the Live AMA, Manav  introduced himself and wrote on Reddit, "Hi r/BollyBlindsNGossip, I'm Manav Manglani, Bollywood celebrity photographer and photo journalist from Mumbai. Ask me Anything about Bollywood, paparazzi culture and how my team rolls around getting behind the scenes exclusives and Bollywood gossip. I can share photography tips too!"

A range of questions flooded the comments section where the audience were keen to know about the paparazzi culture and the hidden stories of Bollywood. The session began with one of the users asking him about how did he get started, to which Manav replied, "Getting into this field was accidental. I was into animation and web designing and got into this field when I designed few movie websites for Vashu Bhagnani and started getting invited for Bollywood parties, used to carry my camera to click my fav celebs and the story goes on…"

Manav was then asked about Shahrukh Khan's decision to limit his interaction with media and paparazzi to which he said, "Well, I think it’s his decision entirely and respect it, dunno what’s going around in his mind, we feel bad when we don’t get to click him coming in and getting out of important events with that black cloth always around his car or him avoiding the media deliberately but I guess it must be situational and he should come out soon and be seen a lot in coming days."

Amid the whirlwind of questions, Manav also shared, "We know the places where celebs usually go for workout lunch dinner meetings so we keep checking them frequently and there are times when we are informed about their whereabouts by the PR team."

Someone also asked him about Karan Johar mentioning on his show regarding some rate card for Bollywood celebs. Manav laughed at this question and said, "Hahaha there is no rate card as such, it’s all about exclusive stories with big celebs and the hype around them which fetches good amount but with digital age booming globally that’s also gone for a toss, and now it’s all about who clicks first and does the posting to achieve maximum eyeballs and making the story viral"

Users also wanted to know about the way it goes with cricketers and Manav said, "Cricketers are a little private and not very media friendly, Virat was the same few years back but of late he has mellowed down and is more friendly towards paparazzi and obliges us for clicks and even selfies since we all are huge fans of Kohli… main to hoon ekdum bada wala fan ❤️ KOHLI KOHLI….KOHLI KOHLI 😎"

Apart from all this, Manav also spoke about the change in behaviour of celebs once they are off camera saying, "Well, celebs are busy and always occupied with so much happening around them, few are the same and few change when it comes to mood, it’s all situational, but with media around most of them are usually cool."

Talking about whose pictures are usually in demand, Manav told that celebs who are getting married tend to be in demand mostly, so right now it’s Parineeti Chopra and everyone wants to know what’s happening with her and Raghav Chadha next.

In a discussion regarding the truth behind Ranbir Kapoor not having a PR, Manav said, "Never interacted with any PR related to RK, it’s always around his movie promotion that we tend to catch up frequently, rest is pretty organic as and when we spot his car or at the airport.". 

"Most of them are well behaved but the best among all is Varun Dhawan, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Deepika Padukone, Vicky Kaushal, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif.", he further added.

A user also asked him how much of paparazzi work is PR motivated, to which Manav said, "Well, I can say it’s 30-70 30% PR motivated 70% our own research and hard work of stalking celebs and getting work done through our sources."

Manav also answered questions related to Rani Mukherjee and said, "I love Rani Mukherjee, she is pretty cool with the paparazzi and always obliges for clicks so interacting with her is always awesome."

This was indeed an interesting session on Reddit where Manav gave a lot of interesting revelations about Bollywood. Lastly, Manav was asked about his favourite new-generation celebs and he said they are Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone.

The connection between Bollywood celebrities and the paparazzi has long been a point of interest. Some actors, such as Taapsee Pannu, have expressed disgust for being followed around by photographers, while others, such as Janhvi Kapoor, have devised creative ways to give them a slip. Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan have had several run-ins with the paparazzi over their children being photographed and stalked, but they appear to have reached an agreement, similar to Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli, who have requested that their daughter not be photographed by the press in exchange for offering to pose for them whenever required.