"Media should remember that even we are human beings and have a right to privacy" - Shilpa Shetty

By: Faridoon Shahryar, IndiaFM

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Shilpa Shetty has been a close friend of Salman Khan and is relieved that the actor has finally been bailed out of troubled waters from the Jodhpur Jail where a lower court sentenced him to five years rigorous imprisonment for killing a Chinkara and the actor had to spend three nights in the Central Jail. According to her, Salman is paying for being a celebrity and the judicial court proceedings are being affected by a 24/7 trial by media. "It's annoying what the media is doing. In an endeavour to raise their TRPs, TV channels go to any length to tarnish an actor's image. It seems that in our country, only the actors can make the maximum headlines," she says.

A couple of years ago, Shilpa was at the receiving end of a non-stop media barrage about the allegations made by a Saree manufacturer from Surat (She was the brand ambassador) that her parents had employed the services of a small time gangster Fazlur Rehman for getting money from the businessman for breaching the contract. "Be it in my case where my parents were falsely implicated, Salman's trial or Aamir Khan's marriage, trial by media is unfair. One realizes over a period of time that one has to pay a heavy price for being a celebrity. I didn't speak to a couple of TV channels for a year till they apologized. Firstly, they malign you, then they go in a guilt," she states.

Aamir Khan blasted the media recently in an exclusive interview to Tehelka where he labeled "Media is a monster." What's her opinion on his stand? "I think if someone has to marry and has to tackle journalists and photographers sitting on trees to pry into the proceedings, then he is bound to react. If you marry tomorrow and have to be at the receiving end of such behaviour, then even you'll lose your cool."

So, what do you think Bollywood should do to safeguard their privacy? "I think there ought to be some association that looks after the interest of the artistes. Someone should so something about it. Media should remember that even we are human beings and have a right to privacy," she says.