Bollywood’s famous paparazzo, Varinder Chawla, has stirred up a debate by claiming that the humility often associated with South Indian stars like Mahesh Babu, Jr NTR, and Vijay Deverakonda is merely a facade. According to Chawla, comparing Bollywood celebrities with South stars is flawed because the latter's perceived humility is merely for the cameras.
'South actors act humble for the camera'
In an interview with Hindi Rush, Chawla was asked about the grounded image of South stars on social media. He dismissed this perception. “To be honest, I think woh log naklipan karte hai (they indulge in fakery). They act like that only for the camera. There was an actor who would appear in slippers during the promotions of the film to deliberately pretend to be humble in front of the camera.” When prompted, he acknowledged that he was referring to Vijay Deverakonda.
Chawla continued, “Recently, my team shot a video of a big South star, who is normally very quiet. He was going inside the hotel when he snapped at my team member. I didn’t put it, but the other photographer who had also shot it uploaded it.” Although Chawla did not explicitly name Jr NTR, a video of the actor losing his cool recently surfaced online.
He also mentioned Mahesh Babu, recounting an incident where the Telugu star dismissed Bollywood in front of several Hindi film press members during an event in Bengaluru for the film ‘Major.’ Chawla recounted, “He was openly saying we don’t need Bollywood; they can’t afford me. I thought what is this attitude? I do feel woh naklipan zyada hai. They compare Bollywood… but here at least the actors aren’t fake. They are seen how they are, if they are getting angry, that’s public as well.”
When Ranbir snatched a pap's phone
Varinder also narrated an incident when Ranbir Kapoor reacted strongly to a photographer tailing him late at night and snatched his phone.
“About 10-12 years ago. One of my photographers was following him at night for a picture. Ranbir was going somewhere, I don’t know where he was exactly going but he stopped his car and asked the guy what he was doing, why he was following him and asked him, who he works for. He snatched his phone and told him, go ask your boss to talk to me. So he called me from another number and said ‘Ranbir Kapoor has taken my phone’. He answered my call and scolded me. He then called me back around 2.30-3.00 am and told me that he is returning home and that my boy can take his phone back. He was angry but later on he cooled down and told us to respect his privacy,” he told Hindi Rush.