Actors Kiara Advani and Sidharth Malhotra are officially married now. The couple tied the knot on Tuesday at Jaisalmer’s Suryagarh Palace. The “intimate affair” felt nothing short of a national event. With people endlessly scrolling their social media feeds for all the updates, to paparazzi desperately chasing to catch a glimpse of the star couple – the wedding felt like a personal affair to many, as has been the case in the past few years. Remember social media frenzy during Kat-Vicky, Kohli-Anushka?
A video of paps following a gentleman leading Sidharth’s horse out of the wedding venue went viral on Instagram. It garnered millions of views- a testament to the public frenzy surrounding the wedding. The video showed paps questioning if the wedding rituals had been performed. They also asked the man what colour lehenga the bride was wearing. Everyone was in on the treasure hunt. It was only a matter of time before someone made the “exclusive” event accessible to all.
Big fat Indian weddings are an integral part of our culture, and when you bring Bollywood to the picture, the buzz surrounding the event becomes a viral hashtag that runs on Twitter and Instagram for days together. Amid all the frenzy and obsession surrounding these celeb weddings, the “no photos policy” rule has come as a rude shock to many.
The idea is simple: not let any journalist or camera person enter the wedding venue for the purpose of clicking pictures and invade privacy. The idea of “exclusivity” also bans the guests from posting pictures of the event on social media. It is only after the bride and the groom have posted these pictures, fans get to be a part of the affair. It is usually very different from the regular weddings where we post literally posting every bit on social media.
The new rule has multiple opinions attached to it. While some see it as ‘their wedding, their choice,’ others question it by asking “why so secretive?”
Entertainment journalist from WION, Zeba Khan, while speaking to News18.com said: “Weddings are an extremely personal affair in my opinion and it should remain so if the bride and groom wish for it. Somewhere in the trade of being the first or breaking the story, a lot of times we end up not acknowledging that. One could argue that they are public figures and thus privy to scrutiny by the media and public but that also comes with an infinitesimally thin line of ethics. I feel most celebrities end up guarding the tiniest details of their wedding because they expect non social elements to cause trouble. I don’t mind the secrecy as long as we get enough material from the official channels.”
This obsessive curiosity is neither new nor unusual. However, it does create a pressure on the media to provide the audience with what they want to see. Bohni Bandyopadhya from News18.com says, “Making it hard for the media to furnish details about their wedding does make it difficult for us to generate stories and news articles. The more details we can provide, the more readers will come to our site. It does affect traffic. If some other website is able to get any extra information, the reader will go there. So it does become a competition of sorts. But of late, we have mostly seen celebs blocking media in its entirety from covering the wedding and very little information trickles out. So all sites end up publishing more or less the same news.”
The availability of social media platforms on the tips of everyone’s fingers has brought celebrities closer to their fans than ever before. From sharing workout regimes to announcing a milestone – actors do go all out on social media. This, however, adds on to the obsessive curiosity that people have developed with actors. Why be selectively accessible, right?
Most people dream of living a similar lifestyle, or even having a grand/destination wedding. Alia Bhatt’s character in the 2014 film Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania says, “Main shaadi karoongi toh Kareena waala designer lehenga pehen ke karoongi, varna dulhe ko tata, bye-bye kar dungi.”
Zeba, adding why no photos policy is not a dealbreaker says, “I think we can live with the no photos policy. As journalists we will eventually be exposed to all the wedding drama once the couple or their family intends to. Maybe if we don’t make such a big deal out of it, they will come around.”
In the midst of this all, it is made sure that whatever information is available is used resourcefully. “In the run-up to the wedding of any Bollywood star, a lot of information becomes available on social media and on various news sites, irrespective of how private the wedding might be,” says Bohni. “It is their special day and they deserve to have full control over what kind of visuals from their wedding is made public. While the public’s curiosity is understandable, we should respect the actors’ choice, too,” she adds.
At the end, it is the couple’s choice as to what they want to showcase to the public.
We need to ask ourselves if we can live with that or not. Perhaps a fix to our social media algo would turn our focus to other burning world issues.
Also, when is the next star wedding?
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