Since time immemorial, politics and entertainment have gone hand in hand with each other with the latter being either directly or subtly influenced by the former. But recently the rise of OTT platforms has given wings to creators to make content that acts like a mirror to the world we live in.
Over the last few years in India there have been several web series that have highlighted issues of communalism, sexism, caste conflicts as well as democracy and nationalism. OTTs act as a platform for artists to portray real world issues without any sugar coating and getting full artistic freedom to tell their story without any censorship.
In India shows such as ‘Leila’, a dystopian web series on Netflix, showcased a critique of devotion to one’s nation, restrictions on women as well as communalism. ‘Ghoul’ a movie touted by many as bold and provocative in the topics it chose to shine a light on used imagery and symbols to showcase a dystopian world where people who don’t agree with the Government are sent to military detention camps.
Another show on Voot Select, ‘Asur’ a psychological crime thriller made use of mythology and fiction rooted in religion to drive its plot forward. And most recently Amazon Prime’s much acclaimed, ‘Pataal Lok’ also fell into a mire of controversy after addressing issues of discrimination, politics and corrupt judicial system and on a more deeper level used religious mythology to explain the overarching theme of the show.
While these shows talked of issues by way of metaphors and fiction, films such as ‘Shikara’,’Choked’ and ‘Kaafir’ talk of direct consequences of the turbulent political climate in the country.
But writers and directors using real world issues in their movies is not new. On the big screen, filmmakers like Anubhav Sinha, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee and Nandita Das have been using their films as a way to tell stories about controversial topics. Usually these films either don’t perform very well in the box office or are boycotted by those who don’t believe in the film’s messaging.
But now OTT platforms have provided young audiences, who are more politically conscious and want the content they watch to reflect the world they live in, with a medium. There are neither box office collections nor censorship troubles with OTT which allows for more bold and in-your-face political stories whereas before the messaging was much more subtle and abstract.
In a country with ever rising tensions and hostility, art has always been the medium for people to stand by their values. Even after Independence there were a host of movies such as ‘Junoon’, ‘Sarfarosh’, ‘Nastik’ and ‘Kranti’ that dealt with the prevailing tense issues of their time. Artists have always been met with backlash and outrage over any sensitive topic but the difference now is that they have a platform to voice their opinions because there is an audience that seeks these kinds of films and TV shows.
So artists using entertainment as a medium to tell the stories of now are no different than the artists of then. Most of the time it’s not the history textbooks but the art and films of the era that make a deep impact in showing the real and humane consequences of war and conflict.
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