Devgn, whose movie Bhuj: The Pride of India was released yesterday on OTT and will make his digital debut with the series Rudra – The Edge of Darkness, said he trusts the guidelines are not a stage off course.
Actor Ajay Devgn on Thursday said the digital space needs to be regulated “to a point” because, with complete freedom, people will take advantage of the medium.
The Centre on February 25 had notified new rules and guidelines for OTT (over-the-top) platforms and digital news media, requiring them to make public their details and having a grievance redressal system in place.
“It is an area of concern to a point. To a point it needs to be regulated but we should not start going backwards. Regulations should be right. The fear isn’t that it’s getting regulated. The fear is what the regulations are,” Devgn said in a group interview.
In February, the then Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar held an interaction with representatives of various OTT platforms, including ALTBalaji, Hotstar, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Jio, Zee5, Viacom18, Shemaroo, and MX Player.
While communicating the issue to agents of the industry, the previous minister had referenced that before, the government had held a few rounds of talks with OTT players and pushed on the requirement for “self-guideline”. Remarking on something similar, Devgn further said the guidelines ought to be set up to keep a check on any inappropriate substance, however greater lucidity is needed on what could become risky on the web.
“If we don’t regulate something, people take advantage. Four people taking advantage will spoil the name of the whole industry. If you don’t regulate, people will start putting porn on it also. So regulations are important but there has to be a line drawn,” he added.
Bhuj, starring Devgn was released on Disney+ Hotstar VIP on Friday. Billed as a “true story” of bravery, patriotism and determination, the film is set against the backdrop of the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War.
