Post Tandav Controversy, I&B To Set Guidelines For OTT Platforms

Following the controversy and chaos caused by the recently released political series, ‘Tandav,’ the Information & Broadcasting Ministry was confirmed to be planning certain guidelines for all OTT platforms.

Information and Broadcasting Union Minister Prakash Javadekar announced a while ago that these guidelines for all the OTT platforms will be released soon. He said that the ministry had received a lot of complaints and many web series are under fire.

The minister explained that these online series and movies do not have any rules or act regulating the content. The platforms freely go about making the shows. But now the ministry will come up with necessary guidelines that these OTT platforms will have to follow.

"We have received a lot of complaints against some serials available on OTT platforms. Films and series released on OTT platforms and digital newspapers do not come under the purview of the Press Council Act, Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, or Censor Board. We will soon come up with some guidelines for the OTT platforms," said Javadekar.

He further said that, "Very soon a decision on OTT will be made, guidelines will be implemented. Earlier there were no guidelines, no censor board, nothing. Now we have decided to make a decision on it.”

This decision comes after the chaos that Saif Ali Khan starrer Tandav caused. The ministry received numerous complaints against Tandav and its makers. The makers were slammed for their depiction of Hindu Gods in the series. One episode especially caused a lot of drama.

TANDAV CONTROVERSY

Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub plays the role of Shiva Shekhar, a character based on Lord Shiva. Ayyub while playing the character of Lord shiva also uses profane words and phrases.

After fans objected to the scene, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on Sunday sent a notice to Amazon Prime. Even Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders including MLA Ram Kadam lodged a complaint against the makers of Tandav at Mumbai police station.

Three FIRs were registered against Tandav in Lucknow, Greater Noida and Shahjahanpur. FIRs were also registered in Karnataka and Bihar.