It is really ironic to note that both #BanNetflix and #DelhiCrime are trending on Twitter simultaneously.
Netflix Originals show Delhi Crime, has won big at the 48th International Emmy Awards this year. It bagged the Best Drama Series award against – Germany’s Charité 2 Season 2, UK’s Criminal UK, and Argentina’s El Jardín de Bronce (The Bronze Garden) Season 2.
Besides Delhi Crime, Amazon Prime Video’s Four More Shots Please was nominated for the Best Comedy Series. Likewise Made In Heaven’s Arjun Mathur was nominated for the Best Actor award for the same Amazon Original.
The series, Delhi Crime, is directed by Richie Mehta with Shefali Shah in the role of a Deputy Commissioner of Police, charged with nabbing the rapists of the horrific 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder. Released in 2019, the show received rave reviews from the audience as well as the critics and received a rating of 8.5 on IMDb.
This year’s Emmy Awards mark its 48th year and were held virtually due to the pandemic. Hollywood Actor Richard Kind hosted the event live from an empty theatre in New York City.
Why Indians seek censorship and went to the extent of calls of banning Netflix?
All films that hit the big screens are bound to undergo certification from the Censor Board in India. The board decides the age group for which a film or series is suitable. It also decides on the omission of objectionable content.
With the rise of OTT that has magnified manifold in the pandemic as theatres are shut, the filter has been visibly absent. As a result, the filmmakers have so far enjoyed a considerable lax in their content. There has been the usage of sex, violence, abuse, and also the distortion of religious values as claimed by some of the audience. Yet the viewership age limit is clearly mentioned at the beginning of each show. Nonetheless, the government has intervened in the matter and taken things into its own hands with directions to review content and impose censorship.
One of Netflix’s most viewed Indian series – A Suitable Boy – directed by Mira Nair and written by Vikram Seth has come under a lot of scrutinies. The reason being a particular scene in which the protagonist Lata played by Tanya Maniktala kisses Kabir played by Danesh Razvi in a temple premise. The act of love or getting physical in a sacred place is the center of the whole controversy. This is fueled more by the current rage against Love Jihad and the age-old Hindu-Muslim conflict in the country. As a result, several enraged Indians have been firing away tweets to ban Netflix.
MP Police have also booked Two executives of Netflix India over the case.