MeToo accused Tamil lyricist Vairamuthu faces flak for Pedophilic verses in song

Pic Courtesy: YouTube still of the song

Chennai: Popular Tamil lyricist and poet Vairamuthu is at the receiving end of netizens’ ire after a song he wrote with blatantly Pedophilic overtones and lyrics was released on his YouTube Channel. The video song titled ‘En Kadhala’ (my lover) is part of a 100 song project by Vairamuthu known as ‘Naatpadu Theral’. The video showcases a teenage girl who falls in love with a poet, who is greying and at least more than twice her age.

The English description of the song on YouTube reads, “Before the might of love, when caste, religion, race and shatter, will age matter ?” The video opens with lyrics about nature but then transgresses towards the teenage actor and her admiration for the older greying man. A character is seen teasing the girl’s admiration for the poet as “Loves”, trying to discourage her by saying that he is a mad, unemployed, unmarried man who is obsessed with poetry. He also compares the girl’s age with that of the poet. The girl then replies that the poet is no mad man.

Juxtaposing the visuals of the 16-year-old child artiste Anikha Surendran and the older man, the lyrics go on to ask - “My lover, does love bother about age? Will age put an end to our lives? Liplocks are not bound by age… Isn’t the moon the oldest of all, but this young lily will bloom when asked by the moon”.

Anikha is a leading artiste who has worked with top Tamil and Malayalam stars and played their daughter in many hit films. 

Thereafter, the video shows the man playing with some children, and the teenage actor looks at him in admiration, while the lyrics goes - “there is no father in my life, but I want a husband like a father”, as the girl is seen smiling. Throughout the video, the girl is seen happily following the man, who is portrayed as a nature lover and imitating his actions.

Legal Rights Protection forum has also tweeted out saying that they filed a complaint with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPRC) seeking action against Vairamuthu for encouraging a pedophilic attitude. “Sought the commission to issue notices to Youtube India to delete the content of the said video posted by Vairamuthiu Official Channel and to issue notices to Kalaignar TV channel not to air the content” added their tweet. 

Vairamuthu was accused by Singer Chinmayi Sripada and some others of sexual harassment, during the peak of the #MeToo movement. Even a few days back, when DMK MP Kanimozhi had sought justice for school students who alleged sexual misconduct by their faculty, Chinmayi requested Kanimozhi to also initiate action against lyricist and DMK sympathizer Vairamuthu, besides former DMK/AIADMK politician Radha Ravi, who is now with the BJP.