Exclusive: Wouldn’t prefer censorship on OTT, it’s a democracy, says Shyam Benegal

Last November, the government of India brought over-the-top (OTT) platforms under the ambit of the information and broadcasting ministry, from the ministry of electronics and information technology, to give it greater control over content on these platforms.

Last week, the parliamentary standing committee on information and broadcasting discussed the challenges of 'protecting' artistic freedom and imposing 'reasonable' restrictions on OTT platforms.

There have been debates in the media and outside on whether content on OTT platforms should be censored the way films are in India. But veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who had chaired a committee on film censorship in 2016, is not for it.

Benegal told Cinestaan.com, “I would not like to see that because it [the content] comes to your home. So why should somebody else do [the censoring]? I can understand if these things happen outside the home where you have a whole range of people [watching]. But if it comes to your home, you have the choice to accept or reject. Nobody is putting any pressure on you [to watch].”

Arguing that it should be left to patrons to decide what to watch in the privacy of their homes, he continued, “If you have to censor the material, you have to do it yourself. Against whom? Against yourself. There are certain programmes you don’t want your children to watch. This is how it used to be in the past as well when television had come. Certain things you said were not meant for children or young people.”

For good measure, he added, “It’s a democracy. It’s not a police state in which we are living.”

The Shyam Benegal Committee report, submitted in April 2016, had laid down rules for film certification taking into consideration artistic freedom. The report has not been implemented.

Asked what was happening with the report, Benegal said, “I haven’t had a word. I really don’t know what has happened. When the government sets up a commission, they expect you to study [the issue] and give them a report, which we do. After that it’s not in our hands. It depends on the government whether they will implement all of it, part of it or just chuck it.”

During the discussion of the parliamentary standing committee on information and broadcasting, Prasoon Joshi, chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), said the Benegal Committee report had become mostly redundant because of the boom in OTT platforms in the past few years.

Benegal agreed, saying, “I guess so. The provisions of censorship no longer work the way they used to. All these things have come into your home now, so where is the question of anything?”