The song glorifies stalking, once again, again!
The music video released with the song shows a character, played by ‘touted as funny’, Yogi Babu who walks up to Nayanthara and tells her his family is pressuring him to get married and that he has chosen her as a suitable bride. Nayanthara does not reply. Nayanthara does not consent. But is that really an issue here in Tamil cinema? Apparently not for when did a girl’s opinion matter about choosing a partner. I was stuck glued to the screen watching in horror as Yogi Babu follows her every day back and forth every time she leaves the house to go somewhere. Simply because he is at a marriageable age, mind you not a marriage-ready state of mind because age is what counts not the desire to spend a life with someone.
But it doesn’t stop there… oh no! Yogi Babu light a firecracker on the path and Nayanthara startled, looks at him for which Yogi casually brags to another man that he caught her attention!
Of course, harmful acts are the way to get a girl’s attention. A thin line from next scene in which he grins and stabs her in the chest and says, “look she is even screaming my name!”
It is appalling as well to know that someone who created a ‘Beep’ song (Insulting women) and someone who repeatedly stalked, put on disguises and literally cornered and pressured a girl into loving him in a movie (Sivakarthikeyan in Remo) got together to make this project, apparently a female-oriented film in the first place. See the music video here:
But that is not where this depressing week stops. The trailer for Nungambakkam based on the infamous Swathi murder case happened as well.
Does stalking beget stalking maybe?
The bizarre trailer which does not focus on the horrible crime of stalking or crime itself for the matter does not even speak for the victim or the perpetrator but instead chooses to focus on the mustache-clad macho cop who solves it in the premise; definitely because it is still the story of a masculine male when a girl dies. The film’s team which still has not sought the permission from the girl’s parents even think they are sly for naming the girl Sumathi and claiming it to be a far cry from the actual victim’s name, “Swathi”! *Shakes head in disbelief*
Watch the trailer here:
As the most trending topic of the week, as KoKo’s song is still shared all over social media I caught a few male friends laughing at the antics of Yogi Babu. When asked if they knew how horrifying it was they just shrugged their shoulders. I narrated to them an incident wherein a guy would follow (stalk) me every day as a high school kid and yell out things like,
Meen kuazhambu senju vei, maama, inikku varen!”
(Make some fish gravy babe, I will be coming home).
He would even go so far as to drop things into my window such as jasmine bundles and greeting cards tied to stones. The room bursts out laughing. And I tell them, “Yeah but then he ended up grabbing my best friend’s breasts in broad daylight as a warning to me to comply!”. The room falls silent as I stand there shaking my head in disbelief and anger. See the thin ice? Tread carefully.
