Creative Freedom is one of the hottest topics of the nation. The OTT platforms have been on a rise in the Indian market and the most important reason for that as touted by the netizens and the makers as well is the creative freedom which is generally missing in the big screens. The recent controversy involving ‘Tandav’ where the I&B ministry stepped in and demanded the makers to remove the controversial scenes has jumpstarted the debate on the creative freedom and whether or not it is still there in a democratic country such as India.
But if we look into the matter, Indian OTT industry has just started out and there have been minimal content which are out of the box than the usual stuff we used to get from the cinemas. If we look at some of the past movies and shows which have released on OTT platforms, one can’t find a unique series which is different from the heard. There are definitely few exceptions such as ‘Cargo‘ on Netflix, ‘JL50‘ on SonyLIV and others which have planted their feet into the unknown territory as far as Indian entertainment industry is concerned.
There hasn’t been much of the content where the “creative freedom” can be seen. Sacred Games, which tried non linear way of storytelling, was praised for bringing something new to the industry and many followed the same. But in the process of trying something new, the makers got stuck in using nudity and expletives as a means to attract the audience.
You must have noticed that most of the shows or movies which have arrived are the routined stories, and with the use of expletives and nudity the makers have tried to mature the content so that it seems more realistic. And the above process is being given the name of creativity.
Its high time that the makers try to genuinely bring out their creative side and create something new and unseen so that Indian industry could flourish internationally. Although there are movies which are coming on the big screens such as Brahmastra and The Immortal Ashwatthama, there is still a void in OTT industry of newer and fresh content and hopefully this gets resolved soon enough.