iWorld
Netflix India draws ire over a scene in A Suitable Boy
KOLKATA: Netflix India has landed in yet another controversy – this time, over a kissing scene in the series A Suitable Boy. The sequence depicting a Hindu girl kissing a Muslim boy against the backdrop of a Hindu temple seems to have offended a section of viewers as well as right-wing political leaders.
The outrage is not limited to #boycott anymore. Bharatiya Janata Party’s youth wing leader Gaurav Tiwari filed a police complaint about the drama for “shooting kissing scenes under temple premises.” The complaint named Netflix India VP content Monica Shergill and public policy director Ambika Khurana. According to Tiwari, the show encourages ‘love jihad’.
Narottam Mishra, the minister of home affairs in the government of Madhya Pradesh, also said on Twitter that he has asked the police to examine this controversial content. "This has extremely objectionable content which hurts the sentiments of people of a particular religion," Mishra commented.
A Suitable Boy is based on a 1993 novel by Vikram Seth and revolves around a young Hindu woman struggling with her mother's edict that she must soon be wed. The six-part series, originally produced by the BBC, is directed by acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair, who is known for her big screen ventures like The Namesake, Queen of Katwe, and Monsoon Wedding.
This isn’t the first time the streaming giant has found itself in hot water with Indian audiences. Calls of #BoycottNetflix did the rounds on social media over the Telugu film Krishna and His Leela, apparently for associating the names of Hindu deities with erotic content. Deepa Mehta’s web-series Leila also stoked controversy, with naysayers claiming the show was propagating ‘Hinduphobia’. More recently, it was embroiled in a legal tussle over its documentary Bad Boy Billionaires when the fugitive moguls featured in the series challenged its broadcast in court.
The timing of the outcry is also to be noted, coming on the back of a recent government notification bringing content on OTT platforms under the regulatory ambit of the ministry of information and broadcasting.
iWorld
Banijay Asia’s The 50 tops OTT charts with 8.1 million JioHotstar views
Reality competition becomes most watched show on JioHotstar in debut week.
MUMBAI: Fifty contestants walked into a palace, but millions of viewers showed up for the drama. Reality competition The 50, produced by Banijay Asia, has emerged as the most watched show on JioHotstar, clocking 8.1 million views in its debut week. The figure, reported by Ormax Media, places the show at the top of the OTT viewership charts and marks a strong opening for the digital reality format.
Adapted from a popular French format, The 50 brings together 50 personalities from television, digital platforms, music and reality shows inside a grand palace setting. Over the course of a 50 day competition, participants form alliances, compete in unpredictable tasks and navigate eliminations as the field steadily narrows.
Guiding the game is a mysterious figure known as The Lion, an unseen game master whose voice introduces twists, challenges and strategic turns throughout the show, adding an extra layer of suspense to the contest.
What distinguishes The 50 from typical reality competitions is its audience driven prize structure. Instead of the winner taking home the final reward, the prize is awarded to one of the winner’s registered followers through the show’s dedicated app. The mechanism effectively turns viewers into participants, allowing fans to have a direct stake in the outcome.
The contestant lineup features a mix of television actors, reality stars and digital creators, including Karan Patel, Urvashi Dholakia, Divya Agarwal, Mr Faisu and Dushyant Kukreja, each bringing their own fan following to the show.
With its blend of celebrity personalities, strategic gameplay and interactive viewer participation, The 50 has quickly carved out a strong foothold in India’s digital entertainment landscape. Its 8.1 million views in the opening week underline the growing appetite for large scale reality formats designed specifically for OTT audiences.
