From Gandi Baat to Kyunki 2.0: Balaji dumps risqué for respectable amid OTT content reset

It’s been an eventful fortnight for streaming in India, and no, we aren’t just invoking Aamir Khan’s shoring up of the pay-per-view (PPV) narrative for his film Sitaare Zameen Par’s YouTube release.

After the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) ordered all major internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to 25 OTT apps and websites, including Ullu, ALTT (formerly ALTBalaji), Desiflix, Mojflix, Big Shots App, HotX VIP, and others, for hosting obscene or sexually explicit material, which in certain instances have even been dubbed pornographic, there’s been a cacophony of industry voices weighing in on the odious subject of OTT censorship in India.

Many argue that it is a “losing battle”, after all, since adult content—often packaged as ‘erotic thrillers’ targeted at mass viewers—continues to flow through unregulated channels like Telegram and Reddit, which boast hundreds of millions of users in India. Some of the banned content might even be accessible via direct APK downloads, torrent sites or through other modes of peer-to-peer sharing where enforcement is much more difficult.

“This is a losing battle anyway because pornography continues to be available freely on the Indian internet,” Shailesh Kapoor, CEO of Ormax Media, a media and entertainment-focused consultancy, told The CapTable.

“And by and large, even internationally what everybody comes down heavily on is child pornography and child sexual abuse (CSA) content. But beyond that, adult pornography is not something which the Western markets even consider a problem in the online space. So, you have all kinds of stuff available even on Netflix and Prime Video, which are driven by global regulation. They will not suddenly start following what an Indian (self-regulatory) body decides,” he explained.

Beyond the obvious headlines, though, what really grabbed eyeballs was India’s OG entertainment maven Ekta Kapoor’s almost hurried distancing of herself from ALTT, one of the banned apps, in a statement issued to the stock exchanges on July 25.

Kapoor, who serves as the Joint MD of Balaji Telefilms, an NSE and BSE listed company and owner of ALTT, issued a clarification, wherein she stated that she was “not associated in any capacity whatsoever” with the platform since June 2021.