Indore: Prominent radio personality Neelesh Misra on Saturday expressed strong reservations about the violent and abusive content on OTT platforms. Speaking on the sidelines of the Indore Literature Festival, Misra said that he strongly advocates for freedom of expression but people must also realise that these rights come with certain responsibilities.
“I cannot be specific on a particular web series but I strongly object to violence and abuses hurled in them. As a viewer of OTT content, I get scared of the violent scenes. I have to stop the programme immediately. The moment my five-year-old daughter comes into the room as I fear that any of the characters might use an offending word,” he told reporters at the local press club. “These web series producers are doing so due to the freedom of expression in the country. I am a staunch votary of freedom of expression, which comes with a lot of responsibilities,” he added.
Misra said the argument that people should not watch a particular content if they have a problem with it “does not hold water now”. “First of all, the question arises how come an offensive programme is produced?” he asked.
Misra said mechanisms should be evolved to report the offensive content immediately to a particular platform and the government should take necessary measures for it. He dubbed the current cinema censorship system as an “absolute failure”. Recently, Ali Abbas Zafar’s web series “Tandav” was in news after it was accused of depicting Hindu deities in an objectionable manner and hurting religious sentiments.
The makers have since apologised and deleted the objectionable scenes from the show. In November last year, the central government had brought OTT platforms under the Information and Broadcasting ministry, giving it the powers to regulate policies related to news, audiovisual content and films available on online platforms.
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