“Viewer discretion is advised” starts off a video by artist Ram Subramanian posted on his Facebook page Voice Of Ram. Soon after the disclaimer, a skimpily-clad woman dances to an ‘item song’ much like the ones we only know too well.
What is unusual about this video is that a group of pre-adolescent boys soon join the woman, cheering her while she continues to dance on the stage.
The video is, honestly, quite cringe-worthy, questioning our sensibilities on many levels. But the idea of the video is to ask Censor Board Chairman Pahlaj Nihalani to regrade item numbers. A petition has also been made for that.
“The project ‘Re-grade Item Numbers’ aims to build a more sensitive world for children, by bringing alive the issue of unregulated adult content in the form of ‘Item Numbers’”, the petition mentions. The petition further says that the video is made with “The intent is to break the habitual conditioning where children are unintentionally exposed to adult content like this as there is no proper awareness around the subject”.
“Studies have shown how overexposure of adult sexual content has also led to juvenile crimes against women, amongst other issues like Early Sex, High-Risk Sex and Sex, Love and Relationship Addictions” the petition continues.
Also, it must be mentioned here that the video was not shoot at one go. The children were filmed separately for the video.
You can see the video here.
Images sourced from BuzzFeed.