INFINITY

Recently I watched ‘Balak Palak’, a Marathi film released in 2013 directed by Ravi Jadhav and produced by Riteish Deshmukh, Uttung Thankur and Ravi Jadhav. Balak-Palak in Marathi primarily means Child-Parent(s) and the title is deliberately abbreviated to BP, which refers to Blue Picture / porn secondarily.

This film deals with the most critical and sensitive topic of sex education in children and adolescents. It is a story of 4 school friends who are entering their teenage and hence have a natural curiosity for exploring the unknown and forbidden. As a part of the natural curiosity, they try asking questions to their parents but get thrashed by them instead of getting proper answers. Naturally, they try looking for answers to the questions in X rated literature and films. They are helped and guided by a boy who is a typical mischief monger and the kids get guided towards porn. At the end, an elderly uncle in their neighborhood makes them understand the boundaries between the right and the wrong and asks them not to get trapped in the world of X-rated content.

The movie has a strong message for all the parents who have teenage children at home. The more you avoid a question from the child, the more he will try to explore and find an answer. Many a times, parents avoid talking to their kids or answering their questions. Worst even, children get slapped sometimes when they pose such questions to their parents. This is where they fall prey to anyone who offers information on those questions. Curiosity is natural to children and any source of information that satisfies their curiosity is welcome for them. This source may or may not be providing information the right way.

A child comes into contact with a lot of other children in school or during play. In the process, he might learn certain unwanted things as well. It is the duty of parents to communicate with the child and educate them about the right and wrong ways. Suppressing their questions would only make their curiosity stronger.

It is quite imperative to include sex education in the curriculum of school, but till the time the authorities do it, parents have the responsibility of imparting this sensitive education to their children at the right age before they turn to seek information from misinformed sources like pornography.

Balak-Palak is a must watch for all the parents who have teenage children. There are subtitles as well and language doesn’t become a barrier for this film.

While hormones do their work, parents should continue with the communication. Satisfy the curiosity, and no cats shall be killed.