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Actor Preity Zinta had two disturbing experiences recently that she used to highlight the lack of privacy afforded to celebrities. The first was a popular paparazzi page posting videos of the Kal Ho Na Ho actor in which she is seen ignoring a beggar in a wheelchair and leaving in her car. The second was a woman touching her child after being asked not to take pictures of her.

Zinta posted the video on her Instagram and wrote a statement talking about the incidents. “2 events this week have left me a bit shaken. 1 regarding my daughter Gia.- where a woman tried to take her photo. When we politely asked her not to she walked away, then suddenly scooped my daughter in her arms and planted a big wet kiss next to her mouth and ran off saying what a cute baby.

“This woman lives in an elite building & happened to be in the garden where my kids were playing. If I wasn’t a celebrity I probably would have reacted badly but kept my cool as I didn’t want to make a scene,” she said.

She shared another story: “U can see the 2nd incident here. I had a plane to catch & this handicapped man kept trying to stop me. Over the years he has harassed me for money & I have given it to him when I could. This time when he asked for money I said sorry today I have no cash, just a credit card. The lady with me gave him some money from her purse. He threw it back at her cuz it wasn’t enough & started getting aggressive. As u can see he followed us for some time & got more aggressive.”

She slammed the photographers for laughing instead of helping her in that situation. “NO ONE told him not to follow the car or harass us as anyone could have gotten hurt. Had there been an accident, I would have been blamed. My being a celebrity would have been questioned. Bollywood would have been blamed & a lot of negativity would have spread,” she wrote.

The video went viral, though netizens rallied behind her, criticising the paparazzi for going after actors without knowing their circumstances and calling the beggar incident scary, as he seemed aggressive.

Urging people to realise that they can’t always expect her to act a certain way, Zinta said, “I think it’s high time people realise that I’m a human being first, then a mom & then a celebrity. I also don’t need to apologise for my success constantly & be bullied for it cuz I’ve worked very hard to get where I am.

“I have an equal right like anyone else in this country to live the way I want so please think before you judge & please stop blaming celebrities for everything. There are always 2 sides to a story.”

She added that her children are not part of the industry and shouldn’t be preyed on. “Leave my kids alone & don’t come to them for photos or touch/grab them. They are infants & need to be treated like infants, not celebrities.”

Ending her note by requesting the photographers to take consent before taking photos , videos and sound bites, she added, “Have the grace, humanity & maturity to act & help in the future instead of filming & laughing cuz most of the time it’s not funny.”

Several of her Bollywood colleagues praised and supported her in the comment section of her post.

It’s important for everyone to understand that celebrities are human beings too and deserve their privacy.