The Dark Age Of Kidfluencing: ‘Dhan Ki Devi’ Questions The Commodification Of Children

In Hindu culture, daughters are often called ‘ghar ki Lakshmi’, a reference to Goddess Lakshmi, the deity of wealth and prosperity, coming from the belief that a girl child brings good fortune, joy and abundance into a household. But in a world where women are constantly commodified, from being sexualised in advertising to sell basically everything from cold drinks to cars; to the growing business of monetising female sexuality through digital platforms and subscription-based sexual content; to trad-wife narratives that romanticize domesticity and turn marriage into a pipeline for domestic labour instead of companionship, being a ‘goddess of wealth’ takes on a new meaning. 

Shedding light on the same, Aashna Singh’s debut short film, Dhan Ki Devi, follows Ayesha, a young child influencer whose parents have unintentionally traded her innocence in pursuit of social media fame. Set in a small Indian town during Diwali, the film uses Goddess Lakshmi as a metaphor to look at the commodification of children and the erasure of a healthy childhood that’s lost to likes and shares, as Ayesha, our young protagonist, is made to perform for strangers on the internet, especially when the adults responsible for protecting her are the very people putting her in front of the camera.

With social media turning engagement into money, children are increasingly becoming a source of income for their families, with their appearances, personalities and everyday lives being packaged for public consumption. A 2025 study published in the Journal of Business Ethics examined the phenomenon of kidfluencing as a form of child labour, raising concerns around consent, privacy, economic exploitation and the inability of children to understand the long-term consequences of having their lives documented online.

But that’s not it. We live in a post-Epstein world, where conversations around pedophilia, grooming and the sexual exploitation of children have become impossible to ignore; there's a growing need to look at the kinds of people who have access to children through their screens. This year alone, according to a UNICEF report, 20 million children aged 12–17 across 21 countries experienced technology-facilitated sexual exploitation or abuse in a single year, with nearly 60 per cent of cases taking place on social media platforms. “Good girl gone bad,” a comment on Ayesha’s IG Live in the film, for example, subtly hints at a deeply pervasive culture of sexualizing young girls, and a disturbing ecosystem of people who consume, circulate and profit from images of children — with either an ignorance, or a vile disregard for what they could be used for. 

Shot through a child's perspective, Aashna describes Dhan Ki Devi as a 'quiet rebellion — a scream muffled by performance'. Soft handheld frames and dreamy music draw us into Ayesha's inner world, before the film jolts us with the violence of control. “The film is a mirror of the performative expectations placed on children, especially girls — who are scanned by the gaze of family, society and the digital eyes of millions of viewers because of social media,” she shares.

Aashna, a Mumbai-based writer, director and photographer, has previously assisted filmmakers Vishal Bhardwaj and Alankrita Srivastava on projects including Khufiya, Modern Love and Bombay Begums. Inspired by oral storytelling from her grandmother, her work often explores memory, power and identity. Currently on its festival run, Dhan Ki Devi will have its international premiere at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne in August and has been shortlisted as a semi-finalist at the Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival.

Follow Aashna here.

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