{"id":108748,"date":"2021-03-05T11:07:47","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T11:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=108748"},"modified":"2021-03-05T11:07:47","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T11:07:47","slug":"bollywood-streaming-giants-on-edge-as-amazon-gets-flak-for-hurting-religious-beliefs-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/bollywood-streaming-giants-on-edge-as-amazon-gets-flak-for-hurting-religious-beliefs-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Bollywood, streaming giants on edge as Amazon gets flak for hurting religious beliefs in India"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MUMBAI (Reuters) &#8211; Controversy in India over Amazon\u2019s political drama \u201cTandav\u201d has put Bollywood and global video streaming giants on edge, prompting a closer scrutiny of scripts for possible offence to religious sentiments in a key growth market.<\/p><figcaption>A poster of Tandav, a web series is seen on Amazon Prime Video streaming service website in this illustration picture taken March 5, 2021. REUTERS\/Danish Siddiqui\/Illustration<\/figcaption><p>Companies like Amazon\u2019s Prime Video and Netflix are inspecting planned shows and scripts, with some even deleting scenes that could be controversial, five Bollywood directors and producers, and two industry sources said.<\/p>\n<p>This comes as Amazon Prime Video has become embroiled in legal cases and police complaints alleging \u201cTandav\u201d depicts Hindu gods and goddesses in a derogatory manner and offends religious beliefs. \u201cTandav\u201d, a Hindi word meaning fury, stars top Bollywood actors.<\/p>\n<p>Public outcry over obscenity and religious depictions are common in culturally sensitive India, but the \u201cTandav\u201d issue snowballed as police questioned Amazon India\u2019s head of original content for Prime Video for hours following official complaints.<\/p>\n<p>Fearing arrest, Aparna Purohit put in an anticipatory bail plea, which was declined by a state court but the Supreme Court on Friday gave her protection from arrest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cScripts are being read and re-read now,\u201d said a producer from Bollywood, India\u2019s Hindi film industry. \u201cStreaming platforms are vetting content for anything that they see as a red flag,\u201d the producer added, declining to be named.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon has decided to delay streaming a new season of a popular Hindi spy thriller, \u201cThe Family Man\u201d, which was to release last month, four of the sources told Reuters.<\/p>\n<p>The show, Amazon says, is about an Indian intelligence officer\u2019s efforts in his \u201chigh-pressure, and low paying job\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>While Amazon declined to comment, one of the sources said the delay was \u201ca ripple effect of what happened with Tandav\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon recently issued a public apology \u201cto anyone who felt hurt\u201d by \u201cTandav\u201d, saying some objectionable scenes had been removed.<\/p>\n<p>India, the world\u2019s second-most populous nation with 1.3 billion people, is a valuable market for Amazon and its rivals Netflix and Walt Disney Co\u2019s Disney+ Hotstar.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said at an event last year that Prime Video was doing well globally \u201cbut nowhere it\u2019s doing better than India\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Netflix has announced 41 new shows and films for 2021 in India, versus around 30 new titles released in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018TOO MUCH RISK\u2019, ARREST FEARS<\/p>\n<p>Unlike films, content on video streaming platforms currently face no censorship in India.<\/p>\n<p>But some lawmakers and supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s Hindu nationalist party say certain shows on Amazon and Netflix promote obscenity or hurt religious beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>A member of the ruling party\u2019s youth wing has made a police complaint against Netflix, objecting to scenes in the series \u201cA Suitable Boy\u201d showing a Hindu girl kissing a Muslim boy against the backdrop of a Hindu temple.<\/p>\n<p>Netflix is closely tracking Amazon\u2019s \u201cTandav\u201d cases, one entertainment industry source said.<\/p>\n<p>Netflix declined to comment.<\/p>\n<p>One scene from \u201cTandav\u201d removed by Amazon after release was around a stage play where a person acting as the Hindu god Shiva seeks suggestions on how to increase his social media following after someone says Lord Ram was becoming very popular online.<\/p>\n<p>Revered characters of faith have \u201cbeen lampooned and portrayed in a very cheap\u201d way, the state court judge observed while declining Purohit\u2019s anticipatory bail plea.<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court, however, gave her protection from arrest subject to her co-operation in the case.<\/p>\n<p>Her lawyer said Amazon was willing to cut more scenes from \u201cTandav\u201d if desired.<\/p>\n<p>Among the biggest fallout of the controversy is the rising fear of arrests. Some producers are asking for clauses in their contracts with streaming services to protect them from lawsuits.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just too much of a risk and not worth the headache, especially if you are being threatened with jail,\u201d a producer said.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-amazon-com-india-video-controversy\/bollywood-streaming-giants-on-edge-as-amazon-gets-flak-for-hurting-religious-beliefs-in-india-idUSKBN2AX0UV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MUMBAI (Reuters) &#8211; Controversy in India over Amazon\u2019s political drama \u201cTandav\u201d has put Bollywood and global video streaming giants on edge, prompting a closer scrutiny [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":108747,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bollywood, streaming giants on edge as Amazon gets flak for hurting religious beliefs in India - Fin2me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/bollywood-streaming-giants-on-edge-as-amazon-gets-flak-for-hurting-religious-beliefs-in-india\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bollywood, streaming giants on edge as Amazon gets flak for hurting religious beliefs in India - Fin2me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MUMBAI (Reuters) &#8211; 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