‘Cheap sensationalism’: Hardik Pandya calls out paparazzi for inappropriate photography of Mahieka Sharma

MUMBAI: Indian cricketer Hardik Pandya expressed his distress over an incident where paparazzi allegedly photographed his love partner Mahieka from an inappropriate angle.

Taking to his Instagram, Hardik Pandya addressed a recent incident in which Mahieka was allegedly photographed from an “angle no woman deserves to be photographed” while walking down a staircase at a Bandra restaurant.

While describing the incident as a “cheap sensationalism”, Hardik wrote, “I understand that living in the public eye comes with attention and scrutiny; it’s part of the life I’ve chosen. But today, something happened that crossed a line. Mahieka was simply walking down a staircase at a Bandra restaurant when paparazzi decided to capture her from an angle that no woman deserves to be photographed from. A private moment was turned into cheap sensationalism.”

Hardik Pandya emphasised the need for respect and boundaries, urging the media to be more mindful of privacy.

“This isn’t about headlines or who clicked what, it’s about basic respect. Women deserve dignity. Everyone deserves boundaries. To the media brothers who work hard every day: I respect your hustle, and I always cooperate. But I’m requesting you all, please be a little more mindful. Not everything needs to be captured. Not every angle needs to be taken. Let’s keep some humanity in this game. Thank you,” concluded Hardik Pandya.

This is not the first time that a celebrity has expressed their concerns about the growing paparazzi culture.

Jaya Bachchan, who has often made headlines for her not-too-cool interactions with paparazzi, took a dig at what she calls the increasingly intrusive ‘pap culture’.

In a recent conversation at the We The Women Asia event in Mumbai, the veteran actress described today’s paparazzi scene as “strange” and questioned its ethics and professionalism.

Speaking about how she differentiates between the media and paparazzi, Jaya said she has great respect for journalism but shares a “zero” relationship with the paparazzi.

Explaining the contrast, she said her relationship with the media is “fantastic” because she considers herself a “product of the media”, but when it comes to paparazzi, the equation is very different.

“My relationship with the media is fantastic. I’m the product of the media, but my relationship with the paparazzi is zero.”

“Who are these people? Are they trained to represent the people of this country? You call them media? I come from the media. My father was a journalist. I have immense respect for such people.”

Meanwhile, coming back to Hardik Pandya, India’s star all-rounder Hardik Pandya is poised to complete a double of 2,000 T20I runs and 100 wickets in the shortest format, heading into the five-match T20I leg between India and South Africa starting from December 9. (ANI)