While the recent news of the regulation of content on streaming platforms has come under a lot of flak let us look at some of the other perspectives to this decision or action. Many people are actively saying that regulation of content on OTT platforms will make it difficult for filmmakers to create any series revolving around some controversial topics and to some extent this may even be true.
One has seen a big rise in OTT platforms and many of the local players have tried their best to make use of this freedom in a manner that may not be entirely true to its cause as they have resorted to using cheap tricks like excessively explicit content.
Even though the platforms clearly state if any of their titles are made especially for the adult audience you cannot deny the fact that youngsters are the primary viewers on such platforms and can be easily swayed with such content as their minds are still malleable.
Titles like ‘Dark Desire’ and ‘365 days’ have received a lot of flak for the kind of skin show that one can see in it. Apart from skin show there has also been a lot of violence and abusive language being used but ultimately the context of the character should decide when it is really needed. Even local platforms like ULLU and AltBalaji have taken a lot of leeway due to the lack of restrictions that are in place.
While it is every viewer’s right to choose the kind of content that they want to see one cannot deny the fact that there have been instances where OTT platforms have used this as cheap tricks to gain a bigger audience. In a perfect world, one should never have to impose any kind of restrictions but in today’s day and age, the digital content that we consume daily shapes a very important part of our life. In such times I think it becomes more important than the viewer is mindful of the content that he consumes rather than the platform that is propagating it.