A 12-year-old romancing a 38-year-old in itself sounds so dark and uncomfortable which makes it difficult to understand how the parents of a child and a grown man agree to do something like this. How has it all come down to fame and money?
There are lots of child artists in the entertainment industry and the up-and-coming influencer industry. It is important to gatekeep the safety of the children in such cases as exposure to almost everything is possible due to the accessibility of the internet. Many parents encourage their kids to pursue a career right at a young age but they should not get blindsided by the fame and money by snatching away a normal childhood from them.
Karan Kundra Riva Arora Viral Video
Karan Kundra has recently featured in a video with the 12-year-old Riva Arora in it as they hint at a romantic bond. Riva Arora has earlier worked in films like Uri and Gunjan Saxena. The audience wasn't pleased watching a video so problematic and they reacted and created an outrage against Kundra for signing up for this and the parents of Arora to put their child through this.
The said video features two men who seem to be way older than Arora, both trying to romance her and ending up in a very uneasy watch. A netizen tweeted saying, "Yikes...Karan Kundra is 38 years old and another actor also looks more than 20 years old. Riva Arora (the child actor from URI) is just 12 years old. This video is posted on her Instagram. Her parents are also part of this," he also tagged the chairperson of National Comission for Protection of Child Rights and the chairperson of National Comission for Women.
Comedian Sahil Shah also tweeted, "The Riva Arora story is just sad :'( It's so sad how desperate parents are for fame that they're willing to ruin their kids life so that they can live a life that they never got to live."
Someone shared screenshots of a viral post which says that the child might have gone through steroid injections and surgeries for looking less like a child which she is supposed to according to her age. It is a shame that parents themselves put their kids through all of this as they cannot wait for the child to grow up naturally with time.
Artists like Karan Kundra should also be held accountable for knowing what he was going for and what did he really try to promote through this video. Kundra received a lot of media attention after he participated in Bigg Boss 15 and his relationship with season 15 winner and actor Tejasswi Prakash became a fan favourite. Considering his influence, this sort of work shows very irresponsible of him and should be facing consequences.
Nisha Arora, Riva’s mother took to her Instagram stories to slam down the trolls. She mentioned that her daughter has been a part of the entertainment industry for years now and has achieved everything with dignity. She wrote, “I was calm, but not anymore. The allegations about my daughter's age are completely false it's a saying that false news travels faster than ever and many reputed social media channels proved it. It is sad to see and disheartening for me.”
"My daughter is currently in the 10th grade. She has been working in the industry for more than 13 years and has achieved everything with utmost integrity and perseverance.”
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Why Do Parents Put Their Kids Through This?
Parents often try to fulfil their unachieved dreams through their children. It slowly becomes trouble for them as they stay under immense pressure to meet the high expectations of their parents along with not having the liberty to have their own dreams. Women right from a young age are made to believe in the importance of beauty and made to feel insecure about their appearance. So putting a child through cosmetic changes and introducing them to the scary world of entertainment is criminal. The pedophilic sexualisation through such videos only shows how little anyone cares about the child.
Where do people draw a line with the desire for fame and money? Doesn't the child deserve a natural course of growth? When it comes to men why do they not face the consequences of their actions?
Views expressed are author's own.
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