MUMBAI:
Controversy in India over Amazon’s political drama Tandav has put Bollywood and international video streaming giants on edge, prompting nearer scrutiny of scripts for the potential offence to non secular sentiments in a key development market.
Corporations like Amazon’s Prime Video and Netflix are inspecting deliberate reveals and scripts, with some even deleting scenes that could possibly be controversial, 5 Bollywood administrators and producers, and two {industry} sources mentioned.
This comes as Amazon Prime Video has turn into embroiled in authorized instances and police complaints alleging Tandav depicts Hindu gods and goddesses in a derogatory method and offends non secular beliefs. Tandav, a Hindi phrase that means fury, stars prime Bollywood actors.
Public outcry over obscenity and spiritual depictions are widespread in culturally delicate India, however the Tandav subject snowballed as police questioned Amazon India’s head of authentic content material for Prime Video for hours following official complaints.
Fearing arrest, Aparna Purohit put in an anticipatory bail plea, which was declined by a state court docket however the Supreme Court docket on Friday gave her safety from arrest.
“Scripts are being learn and re-read now,” mentioned a producer from Bollywood, India’s Hindi movie {industry}. “Streaming platforms are vetting content material for something that they see as a pink flag,” the producer added, declining to be named.
Amazon has determined to delay streaming a brand new season of a preferred Hindi spy thriller, The Household Man, which was to launch final month, 4 of the sources informed Reuters.
The present, Amazon says, is about an Indian intelligence officer’s efforts in his “high-pressure, and low paying job”.
Whereas Amazon declined to remark, one of many sources mentioned the delay was “a ripple impact of what occurred with Tandav”.
Amazon lately issued a public apology “to anybody who felt damage” by the unique present, saying some objectionable scenes had been eliminated.
India, the world’s second-most populous nation with 1.3 billion folks, is a useful marketplace for Amazon and its rivals Netflix and Walt Disney Co’s Disney+ Hotstar.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos mentioned at an occasion final 12 months that Prime Video was doing effectively globally “however nowhere it’s doing higher than India”.
Netflix has introduced 41 new reveals and movies for 2021 in India, versus round 30 new titles launched in 2020.
‘An excessive amount of threat’ – fearing arrests
Not like movies, content material on video streaming platforms presently face no censorship in India.
However some lawmakers and supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist social gathering say sure reveals on Amazon and Netflix promote obscenity or damage non secular beliefs.
A member of the ruling social gathering’s youth wing has made a police criticism towards Netflix, objecting to scenes within the collection A Appropriate Boy exhibiting a Hindu woman kissing a Muslim boy towards the backdrop of a Hindu temple.
Netflix is carefully monitoring Amazon’s Tandav instances, one entertainment-industry supply mentioned.
Netflix declined to remark.
One scene from Tandav eliminated by Amazon after launch was round a stage play the place an individual appearing because the Hindu god Shiva seeks solutions on find out how to improve his social media following after somebody says Lord Ram was changing into extremely popular on-line.
The outrage is over a scene the place Tanya Maniktala’s character Lata kisses suitor Kabir Durrani in a temple. PHOTO: COURTESY/NETFLIX
Revered characters of religion have “been lampooned and portrayed in a really low cost” manner, the state court docket choose noticed whereas declining Purohit’s anticipatory bail plea.
The Supreme Court docket, nonetheless, gave her safety from arrest topic to her co-operation within the case.
Her lawyer mentioned Amazon was prepared to chop extra scenes from Tandav if desired.
Among the many greatest fallout of the controversy is the rising worry of arrests. Some producers are asking for clauses of their contracts with streaming companies to guard them from lawsuits.
“It’s simply an excessive amount of of a threat and never well worth the headache, particularly in case you are being threatened with jail,” a producer mentioned.
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