Security kicked us, hit us with guns at Aishwarya Rai-Abhishek Bachchan wedding, recalls pap: ‘Photographers banned the family’

At a recent roundtable hosted by Hindi Rush, senior journalist Hina Kumawati revisited the frenzy surrounding the wedding and recalled how media personnel were stationed outside Jalsa for days, hoping to catch a glimpse of the couple.

“We stood outside the Bachchan house for nearly three days just to shoot Abhishek and Aishwarya’s wedding,” she shared. “When the baraat arrived, we didn’t get even a single glimpse of the ceremony. However, Varinder (paparazzo Varinder Chawla) managed to click Abhishek in his groom’s attire and Aishwarya dressed as the bride.”

Film star Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan on wedding ceremony. Sourced picture

According to Kumawati, that moment—and that photograph—changed everything, especially for broadcast media.

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“That’s when we realised that running with heavy cameras, setting up shots, and then clicking pictures wasn’t practical anymore. Meanwhile, Varinder managed to capture them on his phone, and that image went viral. Every newspaper and publication carried that picture. I don’t know if I am in a place to say this but that was the birth of paparazzi culture in India.”

However, for Varinder Chawla—the photographer behind the historic image—the moment came at a heavy cost. “The security personnel stationed there misbehaved with us. We were beaten up,” he recalled. “It was Amar Singh’s security. They kicked us and even hit us with their guns. After that incident, photographers collectively decided to ban the Bachchan family from coverage at all public events.”

He further explained how the silent protest unfolded.

“Whenever Bachchan sahab attended an event and posed with his family, every photographer would tilt their cameras upward and refuse to click pictures. After this happened at a few events, the family realised something was wrong. Eventually, they invited us to the Marriott, spoke to us personally, and apologised. That’s when the ban was withdrawn.”

The period around Aishwarya and Abhishek’s wedding was marked by unprecedented frenzy. Fans camped overnight on pavements outside the Bachchan residence in hopes of catching a glimpse of the couple, while police were forced to use batons at times to control the surging crowds.

The couple tied the knot on April 20, 2007. Two days later, on April 22, they flew to the Tirumala temple in Tirupati, a visit that received massive media coverage across the country. Around the same time, reports of photographers sustaining injuries during the wedding coverage began to surface.

In a brief media interaction, Amitabh Bachchan apologised for the incident, saying, “I apologise for the inconvenience caused. The wedding was meant to be a private affair.”

Dubbed AbhiAsh by fans and the media, the couple was often referred to as India’s answer to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s Brangelina. While the ceremony was widely promoted as the “wedding of the year,” it was deliberately kept low-key out of respect for Abhishek Bachchan’s grandmother, who was unwell at the time.

The wedding itself was an intimate affair, attended by around 100 close friends and family members. The guest list included prominent names such as Anil Ambani, Sachin Tendulkar, Sanjay Dutt, and Preity Zinta, among others.