The actor claimed paparazzi have only escalated the practice of shooting actresses from behind since he first called it out in September, and promised strict action this time.
Neha Dhupia walked onto the Bigg Boss 20 set as a guest this week and ended up thanking the host for something that had nothing to do with the game. Salman Khan used the episode to return to a subject he'd raised back in September: paparazzi photographing actresses from behind, without asking, and often without any regard for whether the woman is okay with it.
Only this time, Salman sounded more frustrated than before. He claimed the practice hadn't slowed down since his last comments. If anything, he said, it had gotten worse.
"Now they started doing even more but I'll take a big stand on it," he said on the show. He added that some paparazzi and even "some big platforms" were treating his earlier remarks as a joke rather than a warning.
Salman also made a point of separating consent from blanket condemnation. Not every actress objects to such photographs, he argued, and some public figures, he claimed, actually invite the attention and pay photographers for it. "There are also some women and some guys who call them there, pay for them there, they ask them to do this," he said, before adding, in Hindi, that paparazzi should simply skip the people who don't want the shot. That's a specific claim from Salman, not something CutMirchi can independently verify, and he named no one.
Speaking directly to Neha, he said that once women make clear they don't want something photographed and it happens anyway, he'll step in personally. "Uske baad karenge to phir dekhenge unko," he said, which roughly translates to a warning that there will be consequences.
Neha, for her part, kept her response simple. She thanked Salman for using a platform as big as Bigg Boss to put the issue on record again, which, given the show's reach, is no small thing.
What he said in September
This isn't a new fight for Salman. In a Bigg Boss 20 episode last month, he'd already gone after photographers who deliberately frame shots around an actress's thighs or shoot her from behind without checking if she's comfortable with it. He'd referenced Neha's earlier public stand on the issue and brought up an incident involving Saiee Manjrekar and his own niece while making the point.
He'd also had a message for women dealing with this in real time. "Jahan aisa hua, ghoom ke chamaat maaro," he told them, urging actresses to turn around and slap anyone taking such pictures without consent.
Whether Salman's "full on action" turns into anything concrete, legal or otherwise, is the open question now. For the moment, it remains a warning repeated on live television, not a policy anyone's announced.
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