Saif Ali Khan Snaps At Paparazzi: The Child Will Go Blind

Actor Saif Ali Khan recently snapped at the paparazzi for relentlessly clicking pictures of his son Taimur at the Mumbai airport, reports The Hindustan Times. Bas karo yaar, bachcha andha ho jaayega (Stop it, the child will go blind),” Saif said to the photographers, as they continued to click pictures of the kid accompanying his parents. This isn’t the first time Taimur’s parents have expressed concerns over the paparazzi attention their son receives, at the age of two. Just in November last year his mother had said that neither their son, nor could they run away from his popularity.

SOME TAKEAWAYS

• Saif Ali Khan snapped at the paparazzi for mindlessly clicking pictures of his son Taimur at the Mumbai airport.
• Any time the little boy steps out of his home for a play date or a walk, shutterbugs follow him around.
• Khan is right is being concerned over his child’s eye-sight, with constant exposure to flashes.
• Can’t there be a limit to Taimur’s exposure? It is shameful that one has to ask this question out of concern for a toddler.

Actor Saif Ali Khan recently snapped at the paparazzi for relentlessly clicking pictures of his son Taimur.

The celebrity kid has a doll modeled on him. Every time he steps out of his home for a play date or a walk, shutter bugs chase him around. He is followed everywhere and captured doing everything and anything. And again, he is just two. Khan is right is being concerned over his child’s eye-sight, with constant exposure to flashes, not once though, but numerous times day and night. His tiny little eyes have to bear the light camera flashes and his famous parents can do nothing more than get angry or plead to be left alone.

Yes, Taimur is a cute kid, and most people love to scroll through his photographs that too on a daily basis. But there needs to be a limit to this exposure. To the amount of camera flashes, he must endure daily. To the number of photographs, he must pose for. Can’t there be a limit to Taimur’s exposure? I am ashamed that one has to ask this question to raise concerns over privacy of a two-year-old. Isn’t this something which the media itself needs to be concerned about? Flashes of professional cameras are very powerful. I have spent one evening (my wedding reception party) in my lifetime enduring them and I have had my fill. It is exhausting, and the constant attention you get only makes you self-conscious.

Can’t there be a limit to Taimur’s exposure? I am ashamed that one has to ask this question to raise concerns over privacy of a two-year-old.

Thankfully Taimur is still very young to have to deal with the later part of the problem, but he won’t always be a toddler. Soon he will grow up and the loving and friendly waves he gives to media will turn into a scowl and resentful glares, at not being left alone. In our desire to know every aspect of a two-year-old’s life we will end up making him hate all of us, for pestering him continuously. He’ll end up in a boarding school or studying outside the country for the sake of not just his safety but even something as basic as privacy.

Just think about that. A child having to migrate for some privacy. A couple having to fret over effects of constant exposure to camera flashes on their toddler. Is this Taimur frenzy we have set our paparazzi on worth it? Yes, it is our constant demand of the li'l one’s photographs, that sends paparazzi hunting for him. They know all his hangout spots and his schedule. Would any of us as parents not feel creeped out if this was our child? If grown up men could recite your child’s daily routine effortlessly, wouldn’t it send you in a panic mode?

The attention Taimur receives from paparazzi is nothing we have seen ever before, when it comes to star kids. There is a limit to which his life can be documented by those who are not his family. And we shouldn't wait until it becomes inevitable for the Khans to take extreme steps to protect their kid's childhood, to learn our lesson. So before you click to view those photographs on social media, ask yourselves will it motivate the paparazzi to pursue Taimur more aggressively? And more importantly, does any child deserve to be constantly hounded by photographers, even if he is a celebrity kid?

Image source: Indian Express

Also Read: This Ad Manipulatively Reduces Motherhood To A Trope

Yamini Pustake Bhalerao is a writer with the SheThePeople team, in the Opinions section. The views expressed are the author’s own.