A couple from Kerala was aggressively trolled on social media for their intimate post-wedding shoot. Rishi Karthikeyan and Lakshmi got married on September 16 but, they couldn’t do a photoshoot due to coronavirus constraints. And when they got the chance to do it, they decided to “appear” hardly dressed.
The newly wedded couple draped themselves in white sheets while their photographer friend Akhil Karthikeyan took pictures of them in the tea plantations of Vagamon – Kerala. Most couples go for a wedding photoshoot in traditional clothes, but Rishi and Lakshmi wanted to try something new. As soon as the pictures from the post-wedding photoshoot were posted, netizens criticized the couple for obscenity. Lakshmi was called out for “nudity”.
“Both of us were clothed throughout the shoot. It is impossible to not be dressed as we were shooting outdoors, in a public place like Vagamon. The photographer was capable of capturing natural photos of us, which is purely his creativity and camera skills. Most users, especially on Facebook, started moral policing me and my wife over the nature of the pictures,” Rishi told.
“I am somebody who wears off shoulder clothes and shorts. Showing my neck or legs does not qualify as nudity. But I was hit with a storm of horrible comments when the pictures were posted on Facebook. Initially, we responded to some of the comments, but then the pictures went viral and it was overwhelming to have to respond to trolls. So we decided to ignore it,” Lakshmi said.
Rishi stated that none of his family members opposed to the shoot. Lakshmi’s neighbors and distant relatives called up her parents to complain.”They kept talking about privacy and why we would shoot ‘something’ (the intimacy) that should be done within four walls. On the internet, they slut-shamed me and humiliated my family, and asked questions such as “are you wearing clothes underneath?” Lakshmi said.
She added that she had a word with her parents and was able to make them understand that “people are of different sorts and that it doesn’t work if we have to consider the opinion and judgments of everybody else.”Rishi and Lakshmi said that they won’t take down the pictures from Facebook. They have decided against replying to the troll or taking legal action.
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