OTT platforms have emerged as a key player in the entertainment industry and are giving tough competition to the cable operators especially, these have become the favourites among youth. But over the recent months, the OTT platforms have become the center of debate due to various scenes which have raised a question mark on the content that are being presented.
The controversy of ALTBalaji and Ekta Kapoor
ALTBalaji is an
Indian subscription based OTT
platform which is owned by the subsidiary of Balaji Telefilms ltd whose founder
is Ekta Kapoor. Now ALTBalaji among
its other contents, is mostly popular for its XXX web series which is primarily
an adult series and is filled with sex scenes in every episode with little or
zero focus on storyline. In the recently released season of the series, the
Indian Army uniform was involved in a sex scene in which it was disrespectfully torn, and this sparked controversy and nationwide protests.
The Patal Lok controversy
Patal Lok is a
Hindi web series which premiered o 15th May 2020 in Amazon Prime Video co-produced by
Anushka Sharma. This has sparked controversy from different religious and caste
quarters as well as political leaders.
The Sikh community has objected about a sex scene involving “Amritdhari Sikhs” and spoke about
hurting Sikh and Hindus’ religious sentiments alike. There have also been an
alleged attack on “Gurjars” who are a
predominant caste in western Uttar Pradesh. It did not end with this, there are
also scenes which involved sexist slur for the “Gorkha” community who speak Nepali.
Recent controversy
of Krishna web series in Netflix
“Krishna and his leela”
is a new Telugu romantic web series featured in Netflix which shows the main character Krishna having multiple
sexual partners including a girl named Radha. This has attracted several
negative opinions on the show on the basis that it actually depicts the Hindu
goddess Krishna and has hurt the
sentiments of people believing in Hinduism.
Apart from the above series stated, time and again there
have been several web series which has led to controversies from various
sections and communities of people.
Why contents of
the OTT platforms needs to be filtered?
Smart phone devices and computers are now accessible to all
the age groups through which various apps are just a button click away. In the
previous article, we have discussed how the OTT platforms have become a popular source of entertainment for the
tech savvy young generation.
So why should we worry
about?
It is very important
to understand the difference between reel and real life. For adults, they know
the boundaries and the contents presented in the shows or any entertainment
medium is fictional. But for a kid who is not mature enough to differentiate
between the two worlds might fascinate something which has violence in it. We
all know that the contents which have negative impact attracts the most. A kid
with a digital device, be it mobile or laptop needs a parental guidance to make
them understand what is wrong and right, it’s not possible for the parents to
monitor their kids all the time. It’s not a new thing that kids have been often
involved in crimes.
It’s has become a normal thing in OTT platforms to showcase abusive languages, rape scenes and
murders which many kids might find it cool. Agreeing to the fact that adults
have their right to decide what to watch and what not to, but along with that
we should let the kid to be mature enough to about the content that are seeing
and later they are open to watch anything they want.
Why certifications
used in case of films won’t feasible
Films are regulated by the relevant authority and screened
before they are being released. Based on the scenes shown, they are categorized
into three sections-----“U” which are
meant for kids, “U/A” which can be
watched both by adults and kids, “A”
which are meant for adults.
Now for films with certification as “A”, kids below a certain age group are not allowed to enter the
hall and are scrutinized by using their ID card. Now in case of digital
platforms, there is no restriction to sign up or log in to the page, even if
there was, it’s easy to provide false declaration of one’s age. Hence usage of OTT platforms is very difficult to
restrict based on the age until it is mandatory to submit ID card upon signing
up on the platforms.
Conclusion:
With various commercial films releasing in the OTT platforms, the apps will only get
bigger with time but at the same time, there needs to be proper screening of
the contents. The right to watch anything does not mean that any content is
watchable for any type of audience, and if it was so, then there would not have
been any certifications for the films, nor there would have existed any “Board of Certification”.
Also the content makers need to realize the fact that
whatever their creation should not hurt the sentiments of any section of
people. Freedom of speech and expression does not mean that someone can say
anything they want, especially when a large audience is watching their show or
film, they have certain responsibility towards the society as well.
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