Thirunaal‘s director Ramnath is facing criticism for allegedly sexualising a scene with lead actress Nayanthara and a young boy. The accusations stem from a scene in Thirunaal in which Nayanthara, who plays the school teacher Vidya, offers chocolates to some kindergarten children in exchange for hugs and kisses from them. A line of boys and girls queue up to kiss Nayanthara on the cheek. However, one young boy kisses her on the lips. Many viewers objected to the scene as inappropriate, and an instance of depicting child grooming.
Viewers who interpret the scene as sexual were divided into those who expressed disgust and outrage over the portrayal on social media, and those who further objectified and sexualised the scene through videos titled ‘Nayanthara hot kiss’. Memes trolling the scene cropped up almost immediately. Others alleged that the tepid response to the scene was because of Nayanthara’s gender. “If a man had done the same, feminists would have attacked the film,” a social media user posted.
The controversy gathered momentum once the mother of the young child, Jyothi Ramesh shared a video of the kiss on Facebook, and seemed to approve of it.
An assistant of the director told Silverscreen.in,“The scene was staged in such a way so as to show the motherly love and affection a teacher like Nayanthara has on her students. There was no real intention to glamourise the relationship. The bond between a teacher and child is holy, we would never try to milk it for money or shock value.”
A representative for Nayanthara declined to comment on the issue.
