OTT censorship

OTT censorship: OTT has changed the world of entertainment. in India in a few years OTT has taken hold. Many big projects and actors are working in films and web series to be released on OTT. While on the one hand OTT is being described as a good medium to tell different stories, on the other hand, a debate has started on the issue of profanity, obscenity and unrestricted content being shown on it.

Is censorship necessary on OTT? This question has been a part of the debate for a long time. In recent times, big stars like Salman Khan have advocated censorship on OTT on some occasions. During the Filmfare event, Salman Khan had said that I have been working in the industry since 1989, but I have not worked in such content. He said that there should be censorship in OTT. He said that obscenity, nudity, profanity should be stopped. 15-16 year old children are watching all this.

Apart from this, during an interview recently, Salman Khan talked about imposing censorship on OTT. He said that if two punches become more in our films, then we get an A certificate. Different action is going on here. But there is no certificate on that.

read this also: What was Deepika Padukone doing before going on the Oscars stage? Photos surfaced

Profanity and nudity in many series

There are OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar, G5, Sony Liv in the country. Apart from these, there are many small platforms as well. There is no censorship in the movies and web series released on these. The content in these series is also bold and there is a lot of profanity. Many web series including Sacred Games, Mirzapur, The Family Man, Paatal Lok, Inside Edge, Arya, Farzi, Criminal Justice, Rana Naidu were super hit on OTT. Although all these shows were full of abuses and bold content.

These examples are of web series of big budget and A list stars. Apart from this, if we talk about small OTT platforms, then adult content is served there indiscriminately. Controversy has happened on many series of Alt Balaji itself and the matter has also reached the court. Last month, during a hearing on TVF’s web series College Romance, a Delhi High Court judge said that the language in the series was so obscene that he had to watch the show with headphones.

In fact, the Central Board of Film Certification ie CBFC has been formed for the censorship of films released in theaters and shown on TV. But what will be shown on OTT? To what age group will it be shown? What would be the rules? There is no system to give certificate regarding this.

read this also: What happened during the marriage that Katrina got angry, she was upset with her own sisters

What is the government doing?

The central government has not taken any major step regarding OTT censorship till now. However, in the midst of continuous complaints, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur had said in March that abusive speech in the name of creativity will not be tolerated. He had said that the government is serious about OTT content and action will be taken against obscenity and abuse. Along with this, he also said that if there is a need to change the rules, then that too will be done.

Abusing, rudeness in the name of creativity cannot be tolerated.

The government is serious about the complaint of increasing obscene content on OTT. If there is a need to make any changes in the rules regarding this @MIB_India Will not back down in that direction either. Strict action will be taken to stop obscenity and abuse. pic.twitter.com/6pOL66s88L

— Anurag Thakur (@ianuragthakur) March 19, 2023

How many people on OTT?

According to a report last year by MICA’s Center for Media and Entertainment Studies, there are currently 350 million OTT users in the country. These figures are expected to increase further by the end of this year. According to the data of this organization, till last year Disney Plus Hotstar had 43 million subscribers. Apart from this, Netflix had five million and Amazon Prime had 17 million subscribers. These figures are increasing everyday. OTT subscribers increased rapidly during the Corona period.