Remember how our parents ‘allowed’ us to watch incessant television or play our hearts out a day before any examination? This trick achieved many objectives—it took away any distraction once we finally got down to preparing, and it somehow managed to make a few of us think twice before playing the next time an exam was on the anvil. Something similar seems to be happening with the world of OTT or over-the-top streaming content platforms in India. Even though we appear to be in the midst of revolutionising the way television is consumed, scratch a bit, and suddenly it looks as if the viewer is invariably forced to choose between two shades of the same colour. The initial euphoria of watching content that did away with censorship notwithstanding, most OTT content now seems forced and annoying.
The big factor differentiating OTT from regular television and also films is the lack of censorship that blazed the trail for all kinds of shows, and especially content that is bold in nature. As a result, the first wave of OTT content featured a lot of sex, cuss words, and nearly everything in the middle and its success inspired more producers to jump on the bandwagon. OTT platforms also provided ample opportunities for brands that couldn’t sponsor shows on regular television, and consequently, liquor and condom brands started associating with web-series and shows where their product seemed a great fit. As 89 per cent of OTT users in India are under the age of 35, it is only natural for the content to be designed with the sole aim of attracting this segment. This is the generation of viewers that grew up with content from the west thanks to satellite television and both online as well as off-line piracy. This audience also finds it challenging to connect with the standard television fare that adhered to censorship and enjoys the freedom to access content that was ‘regular’ to their sensibilities. Much like the viewer, who is also fine with shelling out money in terms of a subscription fee, the content generator, too, was happy to generate content that does not follow any code.
The magnitude of OTT market in India that is still a largely urban activity with 55 per cent users situated in the five metros changes the moment the low cost of mobile data and the affordable smartphones are taken into consideration. As of now, India has 627 million internet users with 200 million active users, those who access the internet once in 30 days, residing in rural India. In other words, OTT is on the precipice of becoming a pan-India phenomenon. In between everything, no one seems to be asking one pertinent question—do the producers and sponsors only think of the OTT consumer as a lot that can’t look beyond sex? Nearly every platform has more than a handful of shows that explore extramarital affair, infidelity, bedroom secrets in small towns, sex without strings, sex in school, college, workplace, etc. and many of them could also be termed sleazy. According to critics, thanks to the freedom to choose, we are in a golden era of television, but we could well be fooling ourselves. After all, lest we forget, like Jean-Paul Sartre said, “We are our choices.”
Gautam Chintamani
Film historian and bestselling author
gautam@chintamani.org