Film personalities hail new guidelines for OTT platforms
The Government of India recently unveiled new guidelines for social media and OTT platforms, which was announced by the Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Union minister Prakash Javadekar.
The guidelines will come into effect in three months and have been made to regulate the content on OTT platforms. This came during a time when OTT platforms like 'Netflix' and 'Amazon Prime Video' faced criticisms and complaints in India for allegedly showing 'obscene content'.
Welcoming the government's guidelines for OTT, film personalities Ekta Kapoor, Priyadarshan and Vikram Bhatt expressed their opinions.
"It is heartening to see the new guidelines that provide a level playing field for digital news media and OTT platforms," tweeted Kapoor.
"The government is not saying 'do not make this'. All they are saying is, 'whatever you make, there should be enough information out there for the viewers to know what kind of shows they are watching'," tweeted Bhatt. 'Hera Pheri' director Priyadarshan also tweeted that the guidelines will 'respect artistic freedom while providing an avenue for redressal of citizen grievances.
However, Onir, known for films such as 'My Brother… Nikhil' and 'I Am' criticised the guidelines for not favouring content creators. "It is the death of cinema and good content. Stab the artist and keep everyone happy. The worst that democracy can do to an artist is this regulation of OTT," he said.
CBFC chairperson and lyricist Prasoon Joshi said, "Measures taken for a level playing field and empowering consumers would provide clarity for content creators of emerging platforms."
"In January, our show 'Tandav' was released on an OTT platform. It was the fruit of our labour and we were anxious as to how it would be received, like any other film we make. However, once the show was aired, certain sections of society were offended by certain scenes in the show. At that time, we had to run from pillar to post to prevent an arrest. Had the guidelines been present then, it would have served a two-fold purpose: we would have been self-informed in advance as to what is permissible and what is not and secondly, once the show was in line with the guidelines, we would have not have had to run from pillar to post. That is why I whole-heartedly welcome these self-regulatory guidelines," said Ali Abbas Zafar.
