Sex, Sleaze, Vulgarity, Violence On OTT: Where Should We Put A Full Stop?

I pride myself in being a chilled out mom to adult children who understands the travails of the modern generation and gives them a long rope to do their own thing – choice of career, partner, clothes, friends and what have you. Of course, all of this comes with disclaimers and suitable warnings but the choice is ultimately theirs.

I stand rock solid besides them, behind them, the proverbial pillar to give them support should they fall.

In short, I am for everything that this day and age demands. But I too, have a problem.

My association with OTT is pretty recent. I was quite in awe of the first few Hindi/Hinglish web series that I watched. The chilled out mom in me consumed it all – violence, sex, sleaze, cuss words, gay love, taking in my stride the novelty of it all. Well, I thought, at least it’s a refreshing change from our times when two roses brushing against one another would explain it all (imagine, we used to find even that romantic and our parents used to forbid us from the bad influence of watching Hindi films!)

Then of course, there was my partiality towards actors as opposed to stars, who appeared in many of the initial web series dished out during the lockdown. So, I forgave a lot. They depicted promiscuity, sex that verged on porn, dirty politics, underworld, godmen – I consumed it all, until they started showing school and college romance with all these elements.

This doesn’t chill me at all. I am appalled, disgusted and fuming! So, when the Delhi High Court earlier this month ruled that the language used in the web series ‘College Romance’ streaming on OTT platform TVF, is obscene, profane and vulgar which will deprive and corrupt the minds of young people, it totally resonated with me.

The single judge bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharmastated that she had to watch the episodes of show with the aid of earphones in the chamber as the profanity of language used was such that it could not have been heard without shocking or alarming the people around.

The court said that the use of obscene words and foul language on social media platforms also needs to be regulated “when it crosses a particular line” as it can be a “true threat to impressionable minds”, while adding that all this cannot receive protection of under the garb of free speech.

I couldn’t agree more.

I recently watched ‘Class’ on Netflix, the remake of a Spanish series called ‘Elite.’ All I can say is that it crosses all the limits of obscenity and only you can watch it alone. The show touches upon multiple burning issues likes – racism, gender equality, sexuality and even the current social-political environment but how? It is indescribable here. Like I said, only you can watch it alone.

India, more importantly its youngsters is watching more frank sexual content, but is that a good thing? Is a rise in adult content on OTT platforms taking India forward or backward when it comes to conversations on gender and sexuality?

These are the questions that call for a serious debate.

Given OTT and social media are the most impactful spaces to have these conversations, there is an in-built element of accountability on behalf of the creators. In a country where there is no consensus on a national sex-education policy for youth, and where violent crimes against women are on the rise, it becomes imperative for this content to apply a responsibility filter. Beyond viewing the content, there is a need to engage the audience with conversations on what they saw, how it made them feel and whether they related to it, says a ‘Campaign’ article.

Again, I couldn’t agree more.