As Bombay Begums get slapped with a notice from NCPCR, few celebs go berserk with over the top reactions

Sheetal

Taking offence on anything and everything has become the unwritten law these days. After Tandav, the latest show to draw flak is Netflix’s Bombay Begums, which marks Pooja Bhatt’s comeback and has an all women cast and director. It got a legal notice from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) for ‘the inappropriate portrayal of children’. Has censorship already made its entry to OTT platforms? Celebs give their take on this controversy.

Wrong channel?

Grabbing this OTT problem by the antenna filmmaker Hansal Mehta, who has given 2020’s successful web series Scam 1992, asks a rather valid question, “Do these people spend all their time watching OTT shows or do they actually work for child rights? Looks like the NCPCR pressed the wrong buttons on this one!

Leftist OTT?

Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, filmmaker, has made a series of remarks on the show. “So, OTTs realised that adults have an issue with perversion, so they shifted their focus on children. #BombayBegums, why #BombayBegums? Why not Bombay Biwis? and went on to raise a debate on the idea of free speech, “If it’s free speech to make a web show of any kind then how come its criticism is not free speech? Or, your free speech is better than my free speech?” Sharing a clip of the child smoking in the series, he writes, “This is pure bullsh*t. The makers’ mind is full of crap. #BombayBegums”. Probably his attack went too far when he calls OTT platforms leftist on Twitter, “What’s the biggest problem with Leftist OTT platforms? 1. Perversion 2. Ignorance 3. Prejudice.”

Setting the tone

Many were quick to say that they will be watching Bombay Begums upon seeing the trailer. “Watching #BombayBegums only cos of @PoojaB1972. What a comeback,” posted badminton player Jwala Gutta on March 8.

Few have been vocal about their support for the show. Meeta Sengupta, writer and advisor for education strategy, took to Twitter and wrote, “Strange to say, while so much of Bombay Begums felt convoluted, I find I’m processing a lot of it very slowly. Recognising so many women, slowly. Thank you for this mood @alankrita601- so much packed into so little.”

Meanwhile actors, Pooja Bhat and Danish Hussain from the show refrained from giving an answer but were rather busy retweetingthe positive feedbacks from the viewers on their series. One such post of Twitter user Dipti Malhotra reads, “Every Ayesha needs the clarity. Every Lily needs a dream. Every Fatima needs courage. Every Shai needs a Rani. And most importantly, every Rani needs RANI.What a performance by all of these actresses who played all these women. @PoojaB1972 Welcome back!#BombayBegums” Author and journalist Saba Naqvi posts, “Just love #BombayBegums that tells the story of fabulous strong women, the kind of content that should be supported not shut down.”