Salman Khan wants censorship on OTT platforms, says ‘vulgarity must stop’
Bollywood superstar Salman Khan insists that content on digital platforms should be censored. Speaking at a press conference for the 68th Filmfare Awards in Mumbai on Wednesday, the Radhe actor spoke about ‘vulgarity’ on OTT platforms and supported censorship for the medium.
The actor said that “clean content” always works better. “I just think the content should be checked on OTT. The cleaner the content, it will be better and will also have a larger viewership,” he said.
He added that since digital content is readily available, young kids can easily access mature content. “Fifteen to 16-year-olds can now watch this content on their phones. Would you like it if your young daughter watches it with the excuse that she is using the device to study?
“I really think there should be censorship on the medium. All these… vulgarity, nudity [and] swearing should stop,” Khan said.
The Tere Naam actor also spoke about artists who “do it all” on camera, saying, “You have done it all — lovemaking, kissing and exposing in scenes. And when you enter your building, your watchman has also watched your work. I just don’t think that is right for security reasons. We don’t need to do that… You don’t need to cross the boundary. We live in India. It was way too much before, finally, it has been curbed. Now, people have started working on a lot of good and decent content.”
He said if films and TV can have censorship, then why not OTT platforms? “OTT has suddenly started becoming cooler than television, but I don’t think so. What used to be parallel cinema earlier has now become OTT,” he added.
In the last few years, big names from Bollywood have made the shift to working on digital platforms, such as Saif Ali Khan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Shahid Kapoor and Manoj Bajpayee.
Khan’s comments began a debate regarding censorship on Twitter.
Some felt that his comments were invalid as OTT gives opportunities to talented actors and provides audiences with “options and great shows”.
People also felt like it was a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
India doesn’t have an official body to monitor or censor the content available on digital platforms.
