Now adult films on TV

The government is exploring the possibility of allowing movies certified for adult viewing during late night hours, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Published on: Nov 25, 2006, 01:17:00 IST

None | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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You may get more than just Saas Bahu or Ekta Kapoor brand of content on television, with the government exploring the possibility of allowing movies certified for adult viewing during late night hours.

The government will soon start consultation with the industry and civil rights group on allowing feature films certified as 'A' by the Censor Board or teleserials during late night hours.

While the movie channels want that adult movies should be shown after 10.30 pm the social groups are not willing to allow screening of movies before midnight. Also there are divergent views on what type of adult content should be allowed on television.

I&B ministry PR Dasmunshi held a meeting with the representatives of television channels on Wednesday and assured that the government will come out with some guidelines on the issue soon.

"We are looking into the issue," Munshi told them at a meeting.

Showing any sort of adult content on television got banned after the Mumbai High Court directed that only UA pr U certified movies could be shown on television. The court had also said that only movies certified by the Censor Board should be shown on television.

Following the order, the I&B ministry issued an notification under Cable Network Act prohibiting showing of any adult content on television.

Six months after the government notification, the television industry has renewed its efforts to get government censorship reduced. They have got a shot in the arm from the new Minister of State in the ministry MH Ambareesh.

He has earlier sought more freedom for television while reducing government censorship. Keeping in view his affinity to the film fraternity, Ambareesh has been tasked with the section related to films in the ministry.

Ministry officials said that now the government will start the consultation process with the industry and the civil society on allowing adult content on television. "Adult content on late night shows is on the agenda of the new content code. But, what adult stuff can be shown will be decided only after consultations with the various stakeholders," a senior ministry official said.

Munshi also asked the private television channels to run more public awareness campaigns on Dengue, Chickengunya and on terror attacks. He also wanted the channels to show more restraint in crime related programmes, against which many MPs have complained to the ministry.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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