Nayanthara and the male kid liplock in Thirunaal

I have many nephews - kids ranging from 12 - 3 months, One of them asked me once when I was applying makeup, “Atta, will you marry me?” He was 4 and everyone in my family thought it was cute and innocent. Me too, didn’t think of it much until I saw the scene of liplock between Nayanthara and a 6 year old boy being not only sensationalised but also gravely sexualised.

“Let’s pause for a moment and wonder how we’d have felt if it was a little girl ‘liplocking’ with a much older male actor. Would we still think it was funny? The male child’s gender identity does not validate his age inappropriate sexualisation. How this scene has been perceived says a lot about us as a society and our belief that men always want it, whatever be their age and a woman’s consent doesn’t matter, whatever be her age!”

We need to teach our boys that consent on behalf of the opposite sex is important. The thing is, this is not the first scene of a small boy going overboard sexually, I’ve seen many videos on small boys behaving inappropriately at women and the women accepting it as innocent and cute as did the viewers - even small boys kissing small girls suddenly is perceived as cute and innocent. I think maybe it’s time we analyze this scenario deeply and recognize the harm it brings in later years. What’s worst is, the mother of the boy sees no wrong in the scene and glorifies the act. And, why the director included this scene is an unanswered question. Is it only wrong if a grown up by kisses a grown up girl this way but alright if a small boy kisses a grown up girl in this way? And, is the boy’s feelings and ‘luckiness’ matter - many memes are circulating citing the boy as lucky. Does this mean every guy out there secretly dream of behaving like the boy at his teacher and get away with it? Nayanthara looks absolutely shocked and traumatised in the aftermath - doesn’t her feelings matter?

“It’s absurd that while we are still closed to talking about sex education in schools, we’re perfectly fine attributing adult sexual feelings to small children, especially boys, as a matter of routine. And worse, as a matter of comedy. “

Idea credit: The News Minute