- Most often than not, creative people are on the firing line of the political activists ostensibly for hurting the sentiments of one or the other kind. Mostly, religious sentiments and/or misrepresentations are cited as the reason to corner creative people including filmmakers, artists, and an enterprising lot who wish to trade sometime on an unbeaten path with an intention to dish out novel/original/unexplored outcomes. One cannot fault creative people for being enterprising when the whole world expects to initiate welcome measures out of the ordinary from literally all the veritable fields.
PC: moneycontrol
- However, as is it won’t, there will be spoilers and offense seekers ever ready to pounce with parochial and narrow-minded considerations to create an unwanted nuisance for the sensitive creators. In the past, the nation is witness to several movies targeted based on the premise of historical distortions, though nothing concrete evidence at hand to prove such claims, as well as cliched sounding hurting the sentiments claim for no rhyme or reason. People who raise these red banners are mostly political outfits or religious organizations or self-proclaimed society’s vigilantes taking umbrage under these falsehoods.
- At times, this political mudslinging aimed at honest creativity is so vitriolic and condescending that it results in not only whipping up gross negativity against the very creation but also ensures all efforts, resources, and passion poured into it is wasted yielding nothing in return contrary to expectations. Latest to face such an onslaught from multiple states is the web series aired on one of the Over-The-Top (OTT) platform, which has gained a tremendous following during the pandemic months. Notably, there is an increasingly alarming propensity to censor the OTT platform in recent times.
PC: Viknesh Vijayashankar
- Mind you, no less than the Supreme Court has articulated to stay away from watching if someone does not like it. However, the overdrive by the offense seekers continues which can be best described as unconvincing and hypocritical. Threats of criminal cases against the series are originating from UP, MP, and Haryana amid ban calls forcing the creative team to issue an unconditional apology for hurting the sentiments. Hard to fathom how a mere show safely categorized in the political thriller genre is facing unprecedented challenges from elements inimical to ideas of entertainment.
- Such bullying of artists in the context of a creative field of entertainment does neither serve the country’s democratic credentials well nor uphold the diverse cultural, traditional, and commercial aspects befitting our great nation. A pertinent point to ponder over here is who gave consent to all those political netas to target the content creators. Not the discerning audience paying to watch shows aired on the OTT platform. It is foolhardy to ignore the benefits of cinema as a source of immense soft power for India helping in its ways to position us globally.
PC: Brad Bird
- There is no denying the fact that the Bollywood-centered OTT industry is gaining immense popularity generating new jobs in these hard times and most importantly, delivering new experiential spaces for creators as well as consumers. Unfortunately, juvenile censorship, harassment, and government overreach will endanger this platform from realizing a monumental success story where the foreign content is still considered supreme raking in huge revenues. Sanskari political leaders/activists are advised to stay clear of the platform and allow it to flourish.
