Should there be censorship on digital platform? Major OTT players respond

By Subhash K. Jha -

February 3, 2021 - 11:58 AM IST

Pritish Nandy: “Not at all. It will be counter-productive. Anything censored goes underground as we have all seen over the years: alcohol, drugs, gutka, and pornography. The only thing that works is clearly outlined, reasonable regulations. The only thing that can be reasonably censored is that which compromises national security. Nothing else. OTT is not free to air television. It is a paid service. People make a conscious decision while paying their subscription. If they don’t like what they get, they should cancel their subscription and get off the platform. They cannot force the platform to change their content. Would you ask Hindustan Unilever to change the ingredients of their toothpaste if it offended you? Or would you simply change your toothpaste brand? Content is an FMCG product today. Respect it and treat it as one. No censorship please, Mr Javdekar. One man like Pahlaj Nihalani can destroy an entire industry by imposing what he thinks are sanskari norms but which in reality are idiotic norms.”

Should there be censorship on digital platform? Major OTT players respond

Pratik Gandhi: “I don't think it's needed. We need censors in cars to avoid accidents. Not in the field of arts.”

Apurva Asrani: “I am against government controlled censorship. In a democracy one has every right to express oneself. Having said that, we live in a society where people of diverse cultural & economic backgrounds exist. It would be prudent to exercise some sort of self-censorship in order to be sensitive to this diversity.”

Hansal Mehta: “Censorship on OTT? Absolutely not. Censorship is redundant for any form of expression. Self-regulation is the best way currently. As for the trouble faced by the Tandav team, the people who are giving them trouble are the best ones to answer this.”

Amit Sadh: “I think in a country like India it will be nice to have a regulatory body... and in these times we need to show India’s inspiring stories, cinema and storytelling should uplift the audience. We need more Raju Hirani films.”

Ahana Kumra: “I feel the audience has the sense to not spend money on content that they don't want to watch. It's their money and they can choose the content they want to consume.”

Akshay Oberoi: “Freedom of expression is important for the creative industry to survive. We as an industry just need to be responsible in terms of the content we put out and to not take advantage of lack of censorship.”

Kirti Kulhari: “According to me censorship is not needed as far as art is concerned. But in this particular case the way the product is trolled and condemned and the actors and technicians are being hounded is a worse form of censorship than what is officially imposed by the government. We would rather have an official censor certificate than people having a problem with what we make after all the blood and sweat that’s gone into its making. This is clearly not an atmosphere conducive to healthy creativity. I’d therefore choose an official censor certificate over all this drama and all the threats of bans.”