Netflix taken to court in India over portrayal of former PM
Netflix taken to court in India over portrayal of former
PM
By Shilpa Jamkhandikar ReutersJuly 13, 2018
MUMBAI (Reuters) - An Indian politician has taken
streaming giant Netflix to court, asking that it delete "offensive
scenes" and derogatory remarks about former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in
its first Indian original series.
The Delhi High Court adjourned the case on Thursday to
give judges and respondents time to study the petition filed by Nikhil Bhalla,
a lawyer and a member of the opposition Congress party, which Gandhi led for
seven years until his assassination in 1991.
The series, Sacred Games, is a thriller set in Mumbai
with a cast of police officers, spies and politicians. It debuted this month in
the first of a series of new shows aimed at the Indian market.
In one scene, Gandhi is referred to as a
"fattu", a Hindi slang word for a coward.
Grainy news footage shows him shaking hands with world
leaders, while a voice-over accuses him of appeasing Muslim groups in a case
involving divorce rights for Muslim women.
"The show 'Sacred Games' has inappropriate
dialogues, political attacks and even speeches, which are derogatory in nature
and harms the reputation of the former Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi,"
the petition said.
A Netflix spokesman in India did not reply to phone calls
and text messages seeking comment.
Gandhi became prime minister after his mother Indira was
assassinated in 1984. He lost power five years later and in 1991, still holding
the post of Congress party president, was killed by an ethnic Tamil suicide
bomber.
His son, Rahul Gandhi, is the current party president.
The petition asks the court to order Netflix to delete
derogatory remarks made directly or indirectly against Rajiv Gandhi or his
family.
"We cannot afford to, in the name of freedom of
speech allow anything to be beamed in every home without regard to its impact
on society," the petition said.
The series, based on a 2006 novel by Vikram Chandra, has
won critical praise for its gritty portrayal of Mumbai's crime scene and
politics.
Both Netflix and its streaming rival Prime Video, owned
by Amazon.com, are scrambling to add local content in a bid to woo Indian
viewers at home and overseas.
But movies and television shows at times run afoul of
Indian viewers and conservative groups.
Last month, American television studio ABC apologized to
Indian fans of its show Quantico, after online outrage over a Hindu terror
plot. Quantico star Priyanka Chopra also apologized, saying she would always be
a "proud Indian".
India does not censor content on the Internet, but movies
and television are both heavily censored.
(Additional Reporting by Suchitra Mohanty; Editing by
Euan Rocha and Darren Schuettler)
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