Screenwriter
and director Ruchi Narain struggled for decades to find steady work in the Indian film industry. Even with two major, critically acclaimed films under her belt — "Kal: Yesterday and Tomorrow," a thriller she wrote and directed, and "Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi," a political drama that won Bollywood's equivalent of an Academy Award — the work just wouldn't come.
"I struggled a lot because I am an outsider and a woman," Narain told CNN Business. "I was meeting people every week but it all went nowhere." That changed when Netflix (NFLX) arrived in India in 2016.
Since then, the Mumbai-based filmmaker says she has "been inundated with work." Her film "Guilty" — a social issues drama about a rape investigation — was released by the streaming giant in 2020. In the same year, Disney+ Hotstar released her 8-part comedy series "Hundred."
Now, increasing government scrutiny of these more provocative projects and other groundbreaking stories is worrying Narain and many other creators in Mumbai, the home of India's film industry.
Original shows on Amazon Prime and Netflix have lately drawn ire from Indian politicians and regular citizens who consider these films and TV shows insensitive to cultural and religious beliefs.
Police complaints have also piled up against creators and company executives, and some of the offenses they have been accused of — including committing "deliberate or malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings" — carry prison terms of up to three years, a fine, or both. And, in recent months, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has announced new rules and guidelines for streaming services, though no explicit bans on particular themes.
India's creative community now fears that streaming services may buckle under the pressure, and refrain from touching stories that are even remotely controversial. It's a troubling sign for an industry that had just begun experimenting with new forms of storytelling and producing shows capable of worldwide appeal. Just last year, Delhi Crime, a Netflix drama series based on the real rape and murder of a 23-year-old student in India's capital, won an international Emmy.
