Director Ramnath says that people should overlook the controversial kissing scene in his film, Thirunaal. In an interview with Deccan Chronicle, Ramnath said, “First of all, the scene is just a reflection of the kid’s innocent thoughts. It passed the censor board without being cut. Why don’t people see the good message in the climax rather than concentrating on a scene that was meant for fun? If Nayanthara had apprehensions while performing the scene, she wouldn’t have shot it at all!”
Ramnath was reacting to the controversy surrounding a scene from his 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.
Ramnath, though, feels that things have been blown out of proportion. “We have stooped to the level that we can’t overlook a young boy kissing his teacher,” he said.
The online community too reacted negatively to the scene. A variety of memes cropped up shortly after the film’s release. Some alleged that the tepid response to the scene was because of Nayanthara’s gender.
One viral Facebook post by a user from Canada read :
Thirunaal recieved mixed to negative reviews. The film stars Jiiva, Nayanthara, Sharath Lohitashwa and Gopinath among others. The team celebrated their success recently.
