Priya Prakash Varrier, the 19-year-old whose 10-second wink video recently went viral, has opened up discussion about male gaze, North India culture, religion, and censorship, writes Umang Aggarwal

Ten seconds — like one, two, think, blink, and over... What’s the biggest achievement that you have managed in that duration of time? According to the Guinness Book of World Records, people have managed to run, snort, kiss, click the mouse, clap with one hand, and send text messages a crazy, record-breaking number of times in 10 seconds. But Priya Prakash Varrier — a regular 19-year-old girl from South India, who was not aiming for any such thing, has managed a feat in just 10 seconds that has garnered attention from very many sections of the nation. She is an actor who has been cast in Oru Adaar Love (an eternal love story, roughly translated), an upcoming film in Malayalam.

Around a week ago, a 10-second clip from the movie that showed the actor playing the role of a school girl who flirts back with a boy from her class, was posted on YouTube. Her eyebrow dance and wink followed by a naughty-but-shy smile in the sequence found so much appreciation and curiosity from people around the nation that it practically broke the internet.

Memes and witty tweets, claiming that established Bollywood actors pale in comparison to this debutante, or that her eyebrows should be awarded the title of the ‘national eyebrows’, or that she is the new Vyjayanthimala, took over social media. The likes of Rishi Kapoor came forward to appreciate the beauty and talent of the new actor and even predicted that she will be a very successful actor. What’s interesting is that the 10-second clip’s fame did not stop at that. It became a trigger for discussions ranging from reverse sexism in the reactions to the video to the limit to which censorship of movies is acceptable.

Initially, there were people who were watching the clip over and over again or Googling information about the young actor. Then, another group of people expressed disgust over this tendency of viewers to become fixated with every new female actor and then get united to stalk her. And then suddenly, somebody who must have liked the clip enough to find out what Manikya Malaraya Poovi, the Malayalam song playing in the background means, found it blasphemous. Fatwas were issued, FIRs were lodged, and the artistes involed were threatened.

In reaction, the Supreme Court was moved by the director and the female actor. Now, the court has heard their plea and refused to entertain any of the “baseless” complaints against the song or the movie in question. “We are inclined to direct that any criminal action against the petitioners in the respondent States (Telangana and Maharashtra) or in any State solely on the basis of the promotional video of the song shall remain stayed... No criminal action, either by FIR or private complaint on the basis of her participation as an actress in the song, shall be entertained,” the court ordered. However, discussion around how the enormous reaction to the clip is a reflection of some of the ills in our society is still on.

Normalising male gaze

A large section of viewers saw the video as a representation of the innocent high-school love memories which tickle one even in old age. It shows a boy and a girl talking just through their facial expressions. It opens with the boy showing some interest in the girl and ends with him finding it difficult to find his balance as she doesn’t just reciprocate but goes ahead and winks at him.

But some other viewers saw this as a validation for all the boys who eve-tease and stalk girls in the name of love. They also saw this as undue encouragement to the roadside romeos who don’t understand that not every Priya is bound to wink back at them.

This approach to the video, however, was criticised by those who thought that the video doesn’t show that the woman is disinterested or bothered at any point. And the boy is not shown to be following her or troubling her.

Yet another set of viewers found it problematic that the whole video seems to be from a man’s point of view. It makes it seem normal for women to be watched and for them to behave in a certain way that makes them desirable.

Memes based on the video show older public figures — politicians and actors alike — paired with Priya Prakash Varrier. That has invited even more criticism as that makes it look funny for even more responsible men to follow and stalk a young woman almost like it’s their job. It endorses a culture where women are supposed to be stared at and pursued, and laugh away the dangers of such an order of things.

Ruffling religious feathers

The background score playing in the video in discussion is called Manikya Malaraya Poovi. In Maharashtra and Telangana, FIRs have been filed against Omar Lulu, the director of the film, as the song supposedly makes an offensive reference to Prophet Muhammad. Upon translation of the song, the complainants found that it was “blasphemous” as it talked about a woman’s love and desire for the Prophet. Five such complaints have reportedly been filed against the makers of the movie.

Defenders of the song and the clip argue that the song is actually an adaptation of a folk song from Kerala. It does not make even the remotest reference to any religious figure. It talks about a woman and her desire for a younger man named Mohammed, who has been employed by her.

The director and the lead actor have appealed to the Supreme Court to dismiss all the charges against the song as baseless as nowhere does the song intend to hurt any religious sentiment. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote a Facebook post in which he called the complaint “not accidental”. He defended the song and said, “In this matter, if anybody suspects that Hindu and Muslim fundamentalists were hand in glove, they cannot be blamed.”

He also criticised such intolerance towards art and freedom of expression.

“We have been listening to this song for the past four decades. Although there have been some minor issues in both the lyrics and its tune, the song courted no controversy so far largely because of its popularity,” said veteran Mapilapattu lyricist OM Karuvarakundu.

People familiar with the folk culture that the song comes from couldn’t compehend how something could become offensive to a particular religious group all of a sudden.

The song has been used in artistic representations repeatedly, but has never been protested against before this.

Censorship and creative liberty

Once the FIRs were lodged against the song in question and threats against the release of the movie were made, people were quick to draw parallels between this and the controversy that had delayed the release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmaavat. In that case, it was hurt Rajput and Hindu sentiments that people protesting against the release of the movie were talking about. They had burned down the set of the movie and threatened to have the heads of the lead actor and the director chopped off for showing the Rajputs in “offensive” light. Finally, an altered version of the movie was released and the Supreme Court ruled that creative expression and artistic liberty should not be hindered by such protests.

After the release of the movie, the protesters decided to promote the movie instead of criticising it because it had been misunderstood and, in fact, “endorsed Rajput pride”, according to them. They had started the first round of the protests before even watching the movie. It had started a debate about how some ‘imagined offence’ could be used to control art. The new controversy over the Oru Adaar Love song added to a discussion that had already been raging. Whether it’s Hindu sentiments that are hurt or Muslim, the supposed offence becomes a roadblock in making and presenting the art that one believes in, they argue.

North India versus South India

There are viewers who have blamed North India for turning a folk song that is supposed to be progressive into yet another opportunity to ogle at women and discuss their physical attributes in unnecessary detail. It only took a wink for thousands to look up a woman on the internet and start discussing the shape of her eyebrows. And that, they argue, goes against the original intent of the song, which actually celebrates female sexuality and speaks of love across borders and restrictions.

“Can I just say that I am delighted to have figured out that the song (or mashups thereof) that is being forwarded like crazy by people I know on Facebook because of the charming arch of debutante Malayali actor Priya Prakash Varrier’s eyebrows is actually a traditional Mappila love song that celebrates the desire of a woman named Khadija, here called ‘the pearl flower lady’, for a younger man called Muhammad, whom she employs to look after her business. The song indicates that this trusted young man grows in time to be the ‘seal of the Prophets’. Peace is rightly called for upon his name, because of his passion for justice and human decency. The song, set in the film within the context of a music performance during a cultural programme in a high school or college, is nicely done, and filmed through many ‘glances’, between different characters, and what is even nicer is that no one is as yet losing their minds, after having seen the clip. I hope it stays that way. I would like to believe that Kerala is a civilised place, at least in these matters, compared to what we know as Narth Hindiya,” posted Shuddhabrata Sengupta, a Facebook user.

Moreover, there are tweets that show pictures of the actor without makeup and call her ugly for having pimples and curly hair like a “regular South Indian girl”. This racist and sexist approach is specific to North India, they argue. Obsessing over a woman’s appearance, and oscillating between the extremes of either portraying her as someone who embodies impossible beauty standards or as someone who is unattractive because she does not look a certain way, is a very North Indian thing to do, they argue. And it is prevalent and dangerous enough to reduce an age-old folk song to an opportunity for telling women how to be women.

There was a boy in the clip, too

And then there were viewers who argued that while the clip was fine and entertaining, it’s telling that while the girl in the clip became a national celebrity overnight, very few bothered to as much as find out the name of the male actor in the video. It was not like the female actor was skilled and the male wasn’t. Or that the clip did not give enough space to him. It just reflected on the audience and their ‘reverse sexism’. The woman becomes popular for her physical attributes while her talent becomes secondary. And the man is ignored in entirety. Some Facebook and Twitter users even started a campaign as a joke where they demanded for the boy to be just as famous as the girl in the video. The world is always unfair to boys as no boy ever becomes a celebrity for a mere wink. As far as the eyebrow dance is concerned, the boy did it too. But did not find equal recognition for it. There were others who argued that it wasn’t the girl’s talent that made her a celebrity overnight. It was her gender.

Reactions on twitter

#It’s a part of folk tradition

Such soothing lyrical overshadowed by overhyped wink & eyebrow swinging of the actors!

Shaan Rehman's song in #OruAdaarLove originally composed by Thalassery K Refeeque in '78 belongs to the rich tradition of Mappila Paattu, a folklore Muslim music genre — @SameekshyaPanda

Manikya Malaraaya Poovi: A woman like the pearl flower/Mahathiyam Khadeeja Beevi: Her highness- Khadeja Beebi/Makkayenna Punya Nattil: In the holy city of Mecca/Vilasidum Naari..She lived like a queen. Go figure what's objectionable in this. #ManikyaMalarayaPoovi — @Zakka_Jacob

#BanThisMovie

Manikya Malaraya Poovi song video goes viral on social media. But read the translation of this song, they are abusing our beloved Prophet and Bibi Khadija, unfortunately we Muslims don’t care. #BanThisMovie — @Enigma907

#FreedomOfExpression

FIR against #PriyaPrakashVarrier’s song Manikya Malaraya Poovi for hurting religious sentiments of #Muslims due to her expressions. Champions of freedom of expression who stood for #Padmaavat & #SDurga are silent. No hashtags trended by pseudo feminists. Aisa kyu? — @Jagrati Shukla

#NoSexism

Where the world is going gaga about #OruAdaarLove @priyapvarrier female lead, my eyes are all on #RoshanAbdulRahoof #NoOffense but damn that smile is killer — @sobersonal

No sexism!! BoyCrushVday!?? #OruAdaarLove #happyvalentinesday?? — @JolieLaide