The Netflix short series, ‘A Suitable boy’ directed by Mira Nair takes place in 1951, in which a passionate literature student, Lata Mehra is torn between family duty and the promise of Romance as three very different men try to win her heart.
In the Show, there’s a kissing scene between an Interfaith couple inside a temple of Lord Maheshwar which hurt the sentiments of some Hindus as they believe that the show encourages “Love Jihad”, which is a Hindu right-wing conspiracy theory that believes Muslim men seduce Hindu women to convert them to Islam.
Narottam Mishra – Madhya Pradesh’s home minister – wrote:
“It has extremely objectionable scenes that have hurt the feelings of a particular religion.”
#BoycottNetflixIndia has become trending on twitter as Netizens expressed outrage against this incident. Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Gaurav Goel joined the trend and urged people to file a complaint with the local police or court if any OTT platform was “deliberately insulting” Hindu Gods and Goddess.
Gaurav Tiwari, a leader of the youth wing of India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which also governs Madhya Pradesh, filed the complaint against Netflix and warned of street protests by Hindus if the series is not taken off the platform. The FIR has named Monika Shergill, Vice President, Content (Netflix) and Ambika Khurana, Director, Public Policies (Netflix).
The timing of the backslash isn’t great for Netflix as all of this happened just days after the Indian government announced new rules for digital media, under which the nation’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will be regulating Online streaming services.
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