4 min readKochiMar 13, 2026 01:54 PM IST
South Indian actor Varalaxmi Sarathkumar is currently on cloud nine after making her directorial debut with the Telugu crime drama S Saraswathi. While promoting the movie recently, alongside her co-star Priyamani, the actor-director made certain intriguing remarks about family planning. Claiming that many often don’t contemplate all the factors before having children, she advised people not to have kids without achieving financial stability. She also spoke about what she described as a broader social discomfort around discussing sex openly in India, even though the country tops the population chart.
Her remarks about people “popping out kids like a factory” drew criticism online, with some viewers calling the comment insensitive toward families facing financial challenges. During a conversation with journalist Prema, Varalaxmi noted, “We are in a country where nobody wants to talk about sex. We are number one in population. So clearly they’re having it, but they don’t want to talk about it. I find that extremely funny. Everybody keeps popping out kids like they’re a factory. And then they’ll say, ‘Oh, we’re facing difficulties.’ Who asked you to have kids then? Don’t have a child and then plan.”
She further emphasised that she isn’t against people having children but is only critical of poor family planning that fails to ensure adequate financial support for kids. “The economy has changed; it’s expensive to have children. I am not against having children. People come to ask me for help with their children. Did I give birth to them? Why am I helping you after you’ve made a mistake? Take care of your own damn child. I’ve told people around me to get married and have kids when you have the financial stability to take care of another person,” she opined.
Priyamani, sitting next to her during the conversation, agreed with her. Actor-producer Lakshmi Manchu also appreciated Varalaxmi’s remarks, dropping applause emojis in the comments section of the interview clip shared on Instagram. Some netizens also supported her stance. “Now she will become a bad person for speaking the truth,” one person wrote, while another one commented, “What she says is 100 per cent right, but this society never believes it.” Another Instagrammer observed, “It’s taboo because it’s true.” Experts in public health often emphasise financial and emotional preparedness as part of responsible family planning.
‘Exactly what a privileged woman would say’
However, not everyone agreed with Varalaxmi. One Instagrammer stated, “Exactly what a rich, pompous, privileged woman would say. She thinks that having children, too, should be exclusive to the elite. Yes, people need family planning, but shaming people who don’t and saying ‘Why should I pay for your wrongdoing?’ is extremely tone deaf.” Another one added, “If poor people don’t have the right to have children, then I bet 70 per cent of India don’t have the right to have children, and 95 per cent don’t have the right to marriage.”
As per the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) State of the World Population Report 2025, India’s overall population of children under five peaked in 2004, followed by a peak in the number of children and adolescents under 15 in 2009. These large cohorts of young people, combined with increasing life expectancy and declining mortality rates, will continue to drive population growth for some time, with India’s population projected to reach its peak in the middle of this century.
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