The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has ordained Netflix to stop streaming Alankrita Shrivastava’s show Bombay Begums. Two Twitter users denounced few controversial scenes related to the film’s youngest protagonist (Aadhya Anand), which soon grabbed NCPCR’s attention.
Bombay Begum depicts the story of five women whose lives- and battles they face in Mumbai. It is Netflix India’s six part web series that premiered on International Women’s day. A plethora of unaddressed issues- loveless marriages, infidelity, infertility and surrogacy; boardroom politics and work place sexual harassment, teenage depression, substance abuse and alternate sexualities were portrayed.
“We have sought stopping the streaming of Bombay Begums over the inappropriate portrayal of children in the series,’’ NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo stated. Netflix has been given 24 hours from the time of the notice to delete Bombay Begums from its repertoire.
Netflix chose to remain silent on the issue. However, one of the actress from the series asserted, ‘inappropriate portrayal of children’ is such a nebulous term. Is the Commission aware of what happens at the rave parties that teenagers regularly attend?”, she questioned. The actress added that these are the issues that need to be addressed in the society and for which one should in fact telecast on screen and downright condemned the child rights commission, who claimed that it doesn’t exist.