From over-hyped broadcasts of Anna Hazare’s fast to beach shots in a travel show that focus on “buttocks”, from “passionate kissing” in Hollywood cinema to “denigration of women” in TV serials — all these qualify as “objectionable programming”, according to the UPA’s moral police.
Chaired by the Information & Broadcasting Ministry, an inter-ministerial panel will discuss these in a meeting this week. The I&B Ministry’s agenda note for the meeting, accessed by The Indian Express, red-flags a slew of such programmes.
According to the note, a news-based programme on IBN7 telecast the Anna fast showing bold mid-screen scrolls with voice-overs, “Ram lila maidan par jao”, and “chashmadeed bano pure inquilab ke” (be an eyewitness to the total revolution). The note says that the programme carried a voiceover, “Dekho safed poshon ko benaqab hote” (those who claim to be honest, watch them get exposed) with visuals of the Prime Minister, the home minister and the parliamentary affairs minister.
Calling the reporting “instigating people”, the I&B note says that the language appears to “foment anger and resentment” in people, which may lead to violence.
NDTV Good Times broadcast ‘Life’s a Beach’ and, according to the government’s note, the programme exposes the form and figure of a woman’s body with visuals focusing excessively on “her bosom, pelvic area and buttocks”. The note says that in some of the visuals, “the nudity of breasts is explicit”. These visuals, the ministry says, appear to “degrade and denigrate women”.
The channel, in response to the showcause notice, said it had moved these programmes to after 11 pm after receiving the notice and since it covers beach destinations, the anchor “naturally dresses up in beachwear”. For activities where the human form was exposed, the channel said (according to the note), like getting a tan or a massage, great care has been taken that “the erogenous parts of the human body were covered and there was no nudity”.
Sony Pix has shown films containing “adult and obscene” content despite Censor Board’s cuts, the note said. The channel said that the ministry’s show-cause notice has described the alleged scenes as “passionate kissing” and “lip-sucking” that accentuate sensuality in the content which are otherwise normal kissing scenes in Bollywood and English movies. The channel said that out of the seven films, four were critically acclaimed and won international awards like the Golden Globe.
The note said that Star World has telecast serials which appear to denigrate women and are also not suitable for children. In response, the channel said that shows explore a wide gamut of relationships “ranging from that between a husband and a wife to that of a superior and a subordinate and even between man and the Almighty and the portrayal of these relationships is done in as realistic a manner as is possible and all facets of the psychology of the characters are explored”.
Radio City FM aired a “couplet” on the programme, “Babbar Sher”, which said, “Nurse jise pakadti hai use nus bolte hain, aur doctor jise pakadta hai use nurse bolte hain”. This, according to the ministry’s note, was objected to by the All India Government Nurses Federation. The radio station, according to note, said that the content is not obscene and is not intended to hurt the sentiments of nurses and doctors but is meant to be seen in a “humorous manner” and can be, at best, be “satirical”.
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