Sure, the crossover of Hollywood and Bollywood stars at the recently-held Ambani event was cool. The only thing cooler (and funnier) than the cauldron of stars under the roof was the Indian paparazzi and their obsession with back-to-back ROFL commentary on the red carpet. While some mix-ups were purely honest mistakes, Sorry "Jhendaaa" (Zendaya), others were not so cool. All were in good humour, of course. It all started when Spider-Man star Tom Holland landed in India and he was welcomed with, well, paparazzi chanting the actor's name. One would assume that there are not many ways to tweak Tom's name, the Indian paparazzi, however, found its way. You'll know when you hear it.
On the opening day of Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai on Friday, supermodel Gigi Hadid walked the red carpet. Some paps, who were not familiar with Gigi Hadid, thought that she was pop sensation Shakira. "Shakira hai kya? Kaun hai bhai (Is that Shakira? Who is it, brother)," a paparazzo is heard saying in a now viral video.
Day 2 red carpet event was the real deal, when Hollywood stars Zendaya and Tom Holland walked the red carpet. As Zendaya walked the red carpet in a blue Rahul Mishra saree, a section of the paparazzi had a tough time pronouncing her, name which was an honest mistake. "Jhendaa," said a paparazzo. Other desi-modifications of her name followed. "Tom ki girlfriend hai (she is Tom's girlfriend)," added another. Some comments by the paps, however, were not so cool. Case in point - "Kya Spider man banega re tu (how will you become Spiderman)," said a paparazzo as Tom Holland walked the red carpet. A few others added, "Makdiman" and "Tom homecoming," referring to his film's title.
The funniest of all has to be the bit where the paparazzi teased Priyanka Chopra's husband Nick Jonas as "jija ji," which even cracked the actress up. Another paparazzo added, "Jija ji sharma gaye (he is blushing)." Priyanka Chopra, who was posing on the red carpet at the moment, couldn't help but laugh at the comment. Not to mention, where a paparazzo referred to Gigi Hadid as "Geegee," which was instantly corrected by a fellow paparazzo. "It's Gigi, not Geegee," said the photographer.
The paparazzo also tried to chat with Indian celebs on the red carpet. "Bhabhi kahan hai bhai (where is sister-in-law)," they hilariously asked Vicky Kaushal and Sidharth Malhotra, who came sans their respective wives Katrina Kaif and Kiara Advani. Varun Dhawan and wife Natasha Dalal were greeted by wolf-like howling sounds, because Varun starred in a film titled Bhediya. LOL.
Check out some of the moments here:
Comedian-actor Vir Das, in his Instagram entry, revealed that the paparazzi in other countries is not any different from ours. Posting a picture from the International Emmys red carpet, he wrote: "Ima be honest, if you've ever been on a red carpet abroad, I can assure you our paparazzi does a decent job with the white names. try going to the International Emmys and having hundred dudes scream "Weirdass, Weirdass over here" at you." Our sympathies, Vir Das.
Never Have I Ever star Poorna Jagannathan, who was also in Mumbai, posted a video of Zendaya on the red carpet and the paparazzi saying, "Zendaya, idhar boss." She wrote in the video, "I want this paparazzi guy in LA."
Zendaya and Tom Holland landed in Mumbai on Friday and they flew back to Los Angeles on Monday after attending the Ambani event.