A day after actor Nayanthara and her husband director Vignesh Shivan shared pictures of their twin babies, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian said that his department will seek an explanation. During a press meet, a journalist asked the Minister if the couple who got married four months ago can conceive through surrogacy and whether there was a time restriction. To this, the Minister replied that the Directorate of Medical Services will be directed to conduct an inquiry.
On October 9, Vignesh announced on social media, “Nayan & Me have become Amma & Appa. We are blessed with Twin Baby Boys. All Our prayers, our ancestors’ blessings combined with all the good manifestations made, have come 2gethr in the form Of 2 blessed babies for us. Need all ur blessings for our Uyir & Ulagam. Life looks brighter & more beautiful.”
Since their announcement, social media is rife with speculation about the babies and discussions about their names. While a friend of the couple said to TNM that the babies were conceived through surrogacy, Nayanthara and Vignesh are yet to make an official announcement.
In India, commercial surrogacy was allowed until a new law – The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021– came was passed in December 2021 and came into effect on January 25, 2022. It is plausible that Nayanthara, as a single woman, or Nayanthara and Vignesh, as partners, could have approached a medical clinic seeking surrogacy prior to December 2021, when commercial surrogacy was allowed and there were no laws governing the issue. However, since December 2021, only ‘altruistic surrogacy’ is allowed, meaning no remuneration or monetary incentive is provided to the surrogate mother, except the medical expenses. As per the new rules, a surrogate mother has to be genetically related to the couple.
The new rules also state, other than a couple, who have a ‘medical indication necessitating gestational surrogacy’, only an Indian woman who is a widow or divorcee between the age of 35 to 45 years can opt for surrogacy.
The celebrity duo tied knot earlier this year on June 9 in a grand ceremony, which is to be released as a documentary titled Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale on Netflix. The wedding saw several celebrities, including Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, superstar Rajinikanth, director Atlee, and television host Dhivya Dharshini, among others.
Nayanthara and Vignesh met each other during the script narration of the 2015 Tamil romantic drama Naanum Rowdy Dhaan, which starred actors Vijay Sethupathi in the lead, and Parthiban as the antagonist.