Virat, Anushka’s hotel room privacy breached; cricketer expresses anger on social media

Perth: Former India captain Virat Kohli and his actor wife Anushka Sharma have reacted strongly to a fan allegedly breaching their hotel privacy in Perth and taking a video of their room while the charismatic batter was playing the ICC T20 World Cup Super-12 game against South Africa here on Sunday evening.

Kohli posted a video on social media, which was originally posted on another social media app by an unidentified user with a caption, ‘King Kohli’s hotel room’. The short video scans through the room where Kohli was staying.

“I understand that fans get very happy and excited seeing their favourite players and get excited to meet them and I’ve always appreciated that,” Kohli wrote on Instagram, while also posting the video taken by the unidentified fan.

“But this video here is appalling and it’s made me feel very paranoid about my privacy. If I cannot have privacy in my own hotel room, then where can I really expect any personal space at all?? I’m NOT okay with this kind of fanaticism and absolute invasion of privacy. Please respect people’s privacy and not treat them as a commodity for entertainment,” Kohli added.

Anushka too took to social media to express her anger over the alleged video of their hotel room, saying, “Incidents where some fans have shown no compassion or grace in the past but this really is the worst thing. An absolute disgrace and violation of a human being and anyone who sees this and thinks ‘celebrity ho Toh deal karna parega (if you are a celebrity you have to deal with such things)!’, should know that you’re also part of the problem.

“Exercising some self control helps everyone. Also if this is happening in your bedroom then where is the line?” Anushka questioned.

Reacting to Kohli’s post, actor Urvashi Rautela said on her verified account, “Absolutely!! Immoral, unscrupulous imagine they did same with a girl’s room #unprincipled #dishonourable,” while Australian batting stalwart David Warner wrote, “This is ridiculous, totally unacceptable. Was this @crownperth (name of hotel).”

–IANS