Don’t the star kids need space to grow normally?

By Subhash K. Jha -

June 7, 2017 - 10:34 AM IST

The Indian paparazzi like to catch them young. The younger the better. Aamir Khan's little Azad looks visibly unhappy being flash-bulbed at public spots. But the cameras don’t care. At 4, Shah Rukh Khan's youngest AbRam is quite a camera-friendly celebrity. At less than one, Shahid Kapoor's Misha is not just her Daddy's but also the nation's darling.

Don’t the star kids need space to grow normally?

Wait. The Bollywood celebrity-kids' brigade is getting even younger. We now have the 6-month old Taimur being trailed all the way to the one-year old Lakshya's birthday party with the hyper-ventilating paparazzi declaring that the two kids are "best friend in the future."

Whatever that means. Those poor celebrity progenies struggling to come to terms with their parent’s exceptional adulation. I remember Madhuri Dixit’s sons wondering why their mother was being stared at when they came to India for the first time.

Now of course the Dixit-Nene boys are used to being hosed down with attention everywhere they go. A few years ago on Ganesh Chaturthi as the camera’s darling Mrs Aishwarya Rai Bachchan braved it through the gawking mobs at her favourite pandaal in Mumbai with her little one clasped to her bosom, my heart reached out to little Miss Aaradhya Bachchan who seems to be trying valiantly to come to terms with the disproportionate attention that she must deal with.

But it’s not easy for a 5-year old girl to have flash bulbs piercing her bewildered uncomprehending eyesight. And to be scrutinized for her clothes, hair and shoes alongside her chic mom is not just insensitive, it is insane!

It may be fine for Suri Cruise who at 7, seems to enjoy being a fashion diva. But what happened to her normal happy healthy life of dolls and teddy bears? Little Suri is welcome to choose her Choos. We really don’t want Aaradhya’s normal childhood to be vandalized by the paparazzi.

I brought up my concerns with Aaradhya’s grandfather who sighed in resignation. “Ab kya keren? The attention is a little disconcerting. We’ve gotten used it. Aaradhya would also have to get used to it.”

Akshay Kumar, forever playing the real-life role of the monk with the Ferrari, is even more charitable about his children 15-year old Aarav and 3-year old Nitara being hounded by the paparazzi. “They are only doing their job. Woh unki rozi-roti hai,” he rationalizes the unreasonable invasion of his children in tender territory.

I must admit Akshay’s little daughter is already a camera chameleon. Or for that matter Shah Rukh Khan’s AbRam. The boy is a complete chip off the old block. Like his Dad he loves the lenses to be on him.

Not all star-children are prone to preen before the paparazzi. Not so long ago there was a picture of Karisma Kapoor’s little son Kian raising his hands to his face in protest as the cameras went loco.

“Nowadays they are everywhere, outside restaurants and airports. They don’t care how you’re looking after flying for 14 hours or how cranky your child is, they just want their pictures.Kian was tired and irritable after travel when the cameras suddenly opened fire,” says a very close and protective relative of Kian Kapoor.

Years ago, I remember Sushmita Sen telling me how she never allowed her daughter Renee to be photographed. This was when there was no active paparazzi in the film industry. By the time she adopted her second girl it was too late to stop the shutterbugs.

Now Sushmita happily poses with her two daughters.

Might as well lie back and enjoy it. To my shock and surprise I find parents of star-kids being quite comfortable with the idea of their little ones being exposed to shutterbugs. Many stars actively post pictures of their toddlers on social networks, and when I expressed dismay at an actress' little son being clicked she laughed off my concern, "Oh, let him get used to it."

Perhaps Bollywood stars are now in competition to see whose kid gets more public attention and how many followers little Taimur has on Twitter as compared to not-so-little AbRam.