From Anushka Sharma-Virat Kohli to Kareena Kapoor Khan-Saif Ali Khan, celebs endorsing 'no-paps-for-kids' as new norm?

We all know how integral a part of our lives social media is these days. From scrolling our Instagram feeds with the cup of morning coffee to check what is trending on Twitter before finally forcing ourselves to put away the phone to get some sleep, social media has taken over lives and how! In fact, social media also has a lot to do with the western world's paparazzi culture gripping the Indian entertainment industry, mostly Bollywood. One can say it is one of the reasons why the paparazzi culture grew exponentially in the last few years. 

A Page 3 of sorts, on social media several celebrity photographers share not just the photos of the star but their kids as well. And while initially, the celebrities obliged and were happy getting their kids getting clicked, of late, several star couples have hesitated and expressed their concern over the increasing paparazzi culture where the kids including the newborns are under the media spotlight all the time. 

From Twinkle Khanna-Akshay Kumar, Anushka Sharma-Virat Kohli, Neha Dhupia-Angad Bedi to Mira Rajput Kapoor-Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor Khan-Saif Ali Khan, the one thing common between these celebrity couples apart from the fact that they are all stars in their own right is that as parents have taken a conscious decision to keep their children away from social media and the paps as much as possible. And even when they do share photos or videos of the little ones on the internet, the celebs tend to follow certain set rules -- like not revealing the face of the child in most cases these days. 

However, the paps care little about who and how as long as they are getting the celebrities and the star kids clicked. And presumably, this is exactly what has been a concern for the celebs.

While Twinkle Khanna and Akshay Kumar have never revealed their baby girl Nitara's face even though they do share photos and videos featuring her, Kareena Kapoor Khan too has shown restraint in getting her second-born papped. In fact, unlike the time when she gave birth to Taimur Ali Khan when she graciously stopped at the entrance of her house and posed with her husband Saif while returning home after getting discharged from the hospital, the second time around Kareena shied away from letting the paparazzi click her baby boy even when she stepped out for her routine check-up. 

Not just this, Kareena still hasn’t revealed the name of her second-born nor has she shared any photos to date showing the face of her newborn. 

On the other hand, Shahid and Mira, who would engage their children Misha and Zain on social media, too have stopped sharing photos and videos featuring the children. The last photos that Mira shared of Misha had the little one's back towards the camera. In her recent Father's Day wish on behalf of the children, Mira had shared an Instagram story recently in which the photo features just Shahid while Misha and Zain were cropped. The last photo that Mira shared featuring either one of her children was on September 5, 2020, when she wished little Zain on his special day. As for Shahid, his last post about hai children was on August 20, 2019, when he shared a collage of his childhood photo alongside that of Zain and asked his fans to ‘spot the difference’. 

Neha Dhupia and Angad Bedi as we all know have maintained that they would not reveal their daughter's face till the time she is old enough to decide if she wants to engage on social media or not. 

And as for Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli, the power couple has set the record straight that they do not want to engage Vamika on social media. In fact, when Anushka was due with Vamika, the couple went to the extent of sending hampers to the paps with a request not to click pictures of their baby girl and allow them privacy.

So, can we say this is a trend of sorts that others will gradually catch up on or just a passing phase? Well, only time will tell!