Do the Bachchans owe India an apology??

I should probably put in a disclaimer right at the start of this post. I am one among the thousands of Indians, who were following the Bachchan-Rai marriage saga. I have no shame in accepting that. It was indeed, as many media outlets put it, the Bollywood wedding of the century...So much to the chagrin of my boyfriend who would rather want me spending my time in more intellectual pursuits, I spent the last few days scanning newspaper, and television channel sights for dope on the Big Fat Bollywood Wedding.....


Up until about yesterday, I was okay with Bachchans being anal about keeping the presshounds at bay. Despite the fact that who's who of India were a part of this event, it was in the end a private ceremony. They could choose the way they wanted to go about it. Secondly, as per other media reports, the Bachchans had sold the sole rights of photos and video footage for a whopping undisclosed sum to an international media company. So far, so good...

What I was also expecting was that at the end of all ceremonies, the least the family would do is to release at least one official photograph of the married couple for national consumption...Not even that has been done however....If you ask me, I consider this an insult to their Indian fan base....



It is not a PRIVACY thing....they have SOLD exclusive footage to an international channel after all....

It is the Indian fans who have made them who they are however....the LEAST their fans deserve is one proper photograph, for which poor photo-journalists didn't have to rough-shod....



Look at any of the other high profile weddings in the recent past... Karishma Kapoor-Sanjay Kapoor, Priyanka Gandhi-Robert Vadhera, even Sachin Tendulkar-Anjali Mehta... While the media was banned from each one of these weddings, post-marriage pictures were released in each case... I feel it is a way of appreciating scores of your fans who want nothing else but wish you well and in this minuscule way, want to be a part of your big day....



The voyeur in me is doing fine, I feel bad for all the people on a stakeout outside the Bachchan bungalows to catch a glimpse of the people they consider deni-gods...The Bachchans are taking for granted the trouble that the general population of Mumbai went through because of the traffic diversions, the crowds etc etc..500 security personnel, deployed for security, thousand of media people...Not to mention fans who travelled all the way from places like Kanpur bearing laddus....And yet, in true ROYAL style..the Bachchans refuse to satiate the public's well placed curiosity even with a single photograph.....Yet, exclusive rights have been sold to an INTERNATIONAL channel...So, it is all about money in the end (Guess, Shatrugan Sinha was right) and to hell with the countrymen who made you are...Priceless arrogance....


The last bit that REALLY adds insult to injury is the manhandling of press photographers by security people at one of the Bachchan bungalows...One of the photographers was hit so badly in the abdomen that he had to be taken to a hospital (read here)....


No comment has been forthcoming from the Bachchans yet....


I, for one, am really disgusted...