South Indian actor and photographer, Sunder Ramu has been criticised for being a philanderer and has been termed as a playboy. However, he states that he is only trying to make a difference by going out on dates with different women daily and having them pay for the date.
Sunder Ramu goes on to state that despite what the critics have claimed, he is not in search of a relationship, nor is he looking for a one night stand. He feels appalled by the gender inequality in India, where casual dating may still be seen as a taboo. He has been angered by the recent sexual related crimes which have taken place in India against women and he believes he is trying to empower women. “I want people to start celebrating women… I hope men and women start interacting with each other without all the taboos. I'm hoping a lot of people replicate this everywhere - sharing meals with random strangers.”
His dates have ranged between the ages of 21 to 105. He lets them ask him out, choose the venue as well as the food he will eat. He then posted pictures of his dates on his Facebook page and writes reviews.
His oldest date was 105-year-old Alamelu, who had not set foot out of her home for 13 years. Ramu drove nine hours to Alamelu’s village and took her to pray at a temple and watch the sunset. Sundar wrote about their date, “Our conversation ranged from the manners of British gentlemen in her youth to the effects of cell phones on relationships, and from politics in the state to her undying Titanic love for her man Thirumeni, who passed away 22 years ago.”
It is said that the money he saves on his on food from these dates goes towards the meals of underprivileged children, the elderly as well as animals in in shelters. He has sponsored two meals for children at an Indian orphanage this year as well.
Ramu has so far date 100 different women in 2015. He concluded, “I've started making a small difference somewhere. I genuinely wasn't trying to be a hero, but common people can make a difference too - you don't need to be in power to be empowered.”
