Alankrita speaks on govt's move to regulate OTT and digital content

With the Information and Broadcasting Ministry stepping in to curb the alleged excesses on the digital platform, there is widespread panic among filmmakers who feel this restraint may relocate the era of draconian censorship to the digital domain.

Alankrita had to face severe censorial intervention in her feature film 'Lipstick Under My Burkha'. But her latest film 'Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare', which had liberal references to female sexuality, went without cuts on the OTT platform.

"I hope that the ministry's intervention does not affect streaming content and we continue to make what we want to make and we battle it out if we have to. But it is sad

and it will obviously lead to more self-censorship and more hesitation in the kind

of stories being green-lit by digital platforms," said Alankrita.

"In a country like India, which has normalised the idea of censorship right from the time of independence, it is inevitable that no medium would be spared. I am opposed to the idea of censorship itself across all mediums. I think there should be age ratings/certification and not censorship," added the director.

Alankrita is now working on her next film and hopes the content will not be muted, manipulated or mutilated the way it was in 'Lipstick Under My Burkha'. When the film was submitted to the censor board in 2017, the-then censor chief Pahlaj Nihalani had commented to this writer, "We were shown a version of 'Lipstick Under My Burkha' that was unacceptable to the 'CBFC'. The examining committee did not recommend any cuts because Prakash Jha (producer) is a habitual censor protester. He does not take to cuts very kindly."