Click it and Unblock the Notifications
Exclusive: Bekaaboo 2 Director Aarambhh Singh On Censorship And Onscreen Nudity
Well-known web series director Aarambhh M Singh, whose latest offering includes Bekaaboo 2 (ALTBalaji) and Jamai Raja 2.0 (Zee5), expresses his take on the over-the-top (OTT) censorship issue. "At the very outset, let me make it clear that I am in favour of limited age and technology (password) bound censorship. I surely want to control what kind of content my five-year-old can access. The current carte blanche is not working out, with a few channels even selling porn."
"However, we can't afford to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and this might happen with the government mulling extending censorship to certain words. If we make a specific type of show, e.g. with content rooted in a certain city or town, our characters will have to use coarse words (not necessarily swear), as that is how folks converse there. Will all this be off-limits?" he questions.
"Ideally, the censor board should evaluate our story on the entire script, not a few words thrown here and there. You can’t stifle creative thought. There should be a balance between self-censorship and external audit."
Aarambhh continues, "Could Leonardo da Vinci have created the Monalisa had he been asked to brush within a specific parameter? If you push us too far, we being sensitive people might quit the arts and return to farming," says the talented director, who has also made the hit AltBalaji show Class of 2020.
When asked about his funda on frontal nudity (some channels allow it while others don't), this filmmaker, who started his web directorial journey with Damaged, says, "Here, too, everything depends on the need of the script. Pshcyo thriller Bekaaboo also had its share of the steamy scenes given its erotic genre. Educated Indian audiences have been seeing nudity for a long time now, courtesy western shows like Game of Thrones and the film Fifty Shades of Grey, so why make a fuss now? Nudity, if shot aesthetically, does not look bad," he added.
"Let's face it - sex is a part of human nature. So, the debate should be on how you shoot the scenes. There are classes of erotica. I focus on the higher end. My actors trust me hence agree to shoot a specific type of lovemaking scene. We later edit out overbold bits. Also, my bold quotient is not unnecessary. For example, although in Jamai Raja 2.0, we have Nia Sharma adorning a bikini, it stops there."
"Today, artists are in a better position thanks to exposure and mass media. Gone are the days when the actresses would come to set worried about the camera placement, fearing the wrong angle might overexpose them."
Aarambhh does not feel that ALTBalaji thrives only on voyeuristic content. "They make all types of shows, e.g. Test Case and the super-sensitive The Married Woman. But yes, as a thumb rule, they churn out more thrillers, for it appeals to their core target audience."
"A smart businesswoman like Ekta Kapoor (who runs AltBalaji) knows which medium speaks to which audience. If her television shows focus on a family audience in the living room, her web content being more personal, is watched either on the phone or in the bedroom. Remember, all content has its share of takers," avers Aarambhh.
Aarmabhh concludes by saying that he is happy to know that Bekaaboo has already crossed its first season number one day. "This number-crunching was the main reason we increased the romantic equation between Nia Sharma and Ravi Dubey in Jamai Raja 2.0. There was also less emphasis on the latter's character in the first outing."
