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HomeVaanthiWhy Does Sony Think It’s Cute to Romanticise ...

Why Does Sony Think It’s Cute to Romanticise the Marriage of a 9-Year-Old Boy to an 18-Year-Old Woman?

June 23, 2017

By Sharanya Gopinathan

Still from Sony via Youtube

I don’t remember the last time I was quite so gobsmacked after watching a trailer.

The trailer for Sindoor/Pehredaar Piya Ki begins with Diya, an 18-year-old woman, dressing up in a palace. She packs a gun into her purse and then calls out to her husband, Ratan Singh, whom Sony describes as “charming”.

Except Ratan Singh is nine years old.

She bends down and applies a teekha on his forehead, he runs away and returns with a stool and applies a teekha on her forehead, and then tells her she looks perfect, causing her to get romantically teary-eyed. A voice-over announces, “Sony lekar aa raha hain ek anokhi kahaani”. But why? Why is Sony romanticising the marriage of a nine-year-old boy to an 18-year-old woman, and bringing this romantic tale to anyone? Why would anyone in their right mind want to follow the video’s caption and “Come step into a world of unparalleled romance in an aristocratic setup when a charming 9 year old boy, Afaan aka Ratan Singh, of a royal household gets married to a beautiful and lively 18 year old girl, Tejaswi aka Diya”?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRpUZvCmrJs

They’ve also released a similarly alarming Karwachauth promo that features more bending to see eye-to-eye.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsBL6mzocM8

The promo’s disclaimer says “This show doesn’t endorse child marriage in any way”, but displaying the marriage of a nine-year-old to an 18-year-old accompanied by warm, romantic music and happy smiles all around does feel like a bit of an endorsement, no?

Tags: child marriage, Hindi, historical romance, pehredaar piya ki, serial, sindoor, sony, television

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Sharanya Gopinathan

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2 Responses to “Why Does Sony Think It’s Cute to Romanticise the Marriage of a 9-Year-Old Boy to an 18-Year-Old Woman?”

  1. Reply
    Sak
    June 24, 2017 at 8:57 am

    Yes, this is ridiculous but they might have got the idea from a tribal culture where older women marry males younger to them atleast nine to ten year age gap. The logic behind this custom is girls take care of their young husband while they grow up n when they grow up, this guys are more capable of taking care of their wives. Like guy in 20s n girl in 30s. But there is no romantic relationship involved until guys become adults.
    As far as I know hindi sserial …this pathetic serial too will take a leap after few intial days of airing and there will be obnoxious romantic chemistry between lead pair.

  2. Reply
    Shobna Iyer
    June 26, 2017 at 7:05 pm

    Women get married to serve and cry because a little boy put sindoor on their forehead. Hello, I would cry too, if a little boy put sindoor on my forehead.

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