The Family Man 2! For the last few weeks, this name is on the top of all the controversies in the country and it was disturbing as well as eye opening.
For the last few days, since the release of the most awaited Indian web show of the year has surfaced, it has met with all sorts of reactions, both positive and negative. On one hand, fans are extremely happy seeing a new and different angle in the trailer which has already hit 50 million views in no time, on the other hand, Tamil people are extremely disgusted and dissatisfied with the portrayal of Tamil community in the trailer of The Family Man 2. The Tamil Nadu government even went a step further by seeking ban of the complete season 2 from information & broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar.
Now, in the past week, we have seen several artists associated with the show, starting with Shreya Dhanwanthary to Manoj Bajpayee to Suparn Verma to the creator of the show, Raj & DK, all have expressed their disappointment and also tried to assure the fans, not to judge a complete show basis of a 2 or 3-seconds shot in a trailer. They urged the audiences to watch the show first before judging anything. They have also clarified that most of the crew members used for The Family Man Season 2 are Tamil people and they have utmost respect for the Tamil culture. Earlier we have seen that South Indian superstar Nagarjuna Akkineni, the father-in-law of Samantha Akkineni also expressed anger and disgust over the controversy looming around the show and said that he is worried about Samantha, who is getting several negative reactions from a portion of Tamil community for portraying a terrorist.
Now, our question is what this means for the OTT industry? Earlier this year, we saw another Amazon Prime Video political drama, Tandav starring Saif Ali Khan faced the wrath of a portion of audiences citing religious angle. In the past, we have seen master filmmakers such as Sanjay Leela Bhansali getting mobbed and beaten in the sets of Padmaavat because a certain community in Rajasthan assumed from the trailer that the portrayal by Deepika Padukone was an insult to Rani Padmavati. Things went on to become positive when they watched the film and appreciated Bhansali for giving a fantastic tribute to Rani Padmavati. These incidents continue to question the audiences and the artists that are taking contents with communal and religious angle the correct move?
It also questions the very existence of the OTT platform as a safe and independent path for budding filmmakers. We all know that the Internet or web is something which is free and unbiased to all. A creator can create any content with merit and share it via the internet without being worried about getting banned or questioned. But we felt that it was the pre-pandemic era, when the majority of the people were not that connected with the internet or OTT. But for the last couple of years, since most people are heading towards the OTT platform, they are becoming the main source of entertainment and infotainment for the people. Therefore, where a major chunk of people heads, it is bound to become crowded with differences of opinions. Opinions which could lead to controversies and controversies which could definitely lead to questioning the contents. But make no mistake, this concern is not only in India, but it is spread all around the world. We have seen in 2020 that Messiah, the American TV series by Netflix got cancelled after only
one season as it received negative reception from audiences of a particular community. Things went to such an extent that The Royal Film Commission of Jordan requested Netflix to refrain from streaming Messiah in the country due to the provocative subject matter and controversial religious content covered in the series.
These incidents go on to prove that OTT platforms are not creator’s playground anymore, where the creators can throw whatever they create without any consequences. These incidents also pokes the age-old question that even if communal or religious storylines are used as an art, does it give the liberty to the creators to create anything they want to create without thinking about the kind of sentimental impacts they could cause on general audiences? Or is it unfair to see art from a communal or religious perspective as it belongs to the creative mind of an artist?
Maybe there is no correct answer for these questions, but one thing is clear that the creators and the filmmakers need to be more and more cautious in showcasing their content in order to avoid these unwanted controversies which are meant to bring out chaos instead of happiness around the fans.
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