Mumbai: Censor board chief Prasoon Joshi on Friday expressed his displeasure over certain sequences from actor Swara Bhasker's latest web series Rasbhari, asserting that content creators need to be more responsible.
Set in Meerut, Rasbhari revolves around a boy Nand (Ayushmaan Saxena) who falls for his teacher (Swara). Things complicate when people find out about the teacher's supposed sex-obsessed alter-ego.
The series is written by Shantanu Shrivastava and directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhatt.
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chairman said the makers should have spared the children in their "desperate" need for entertainment.
"Saddened by Web series #Rasbhari's irresponsible content portraying a little girl child dancing provocatively in front of men drinking. Creators & audience need to seriously rethink freedom of expression or freedom of exploitation? Let's spare children in the desperate need for entertainment," Joshi said.
-
Saddened byWebseries #Rasbhari’s irresponsible content portraying alittle girl child dancing provocatively in frontof men drinking.Creators& audience need 2seriously rethink Freedomof expression or freedom of exploitation?Let’s spare children in thedesperate need4 entertainment.
— Prasoon Joshi (@prasoonjoshi_) June 26, 2020 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">Saddened byWebseries #Rasbhari’s irresponsible content portraying alittle girl child dancing provocatively in frontof men drinking.Creators& audience need 2seriously rethink Freedomof expression or freedom of exploitation?Let’s spare children in thedesperate need4 entertainment.
— Prasoon Joshi (@prasoonjoshi_) June 26, 2020Saddened byWebseries #Rasbhari’s irresponsible content portraying alittle girl child dancing provocatively in frontof men drinking.Creators& audience need 2seriously rethink Freedomof expression or freedom of exploitation?Let’s spare children in thedesperate need4 entertainment.
— Prasoon Joshi (@prasoonjoshi_) June 26, 2020
READ | #Girlslockerroom: Swara Bhasker gets trolled for #BoysLockerRoom posts
The series, co-created and produced by Applause Entertainment and Tanveer Bookwala, started streaming on Amazon Prime Video on Thursday.
In response to Joshi's criticism, Bhasker said the lyricist had probably missed the subtext of the scene.
- " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="">
"With due respect sir, maybe you misunderstand the scene. It is the opposite of what you describe. The child is dancing of her own will and the father feels embarrassed. The dance is not provocative, the child is just dancing, she does not know that the society will sexualise her too. This is what the scene shows.
-
आदर सहित सर, शायद आप scene ग़लत समझ रहे हैं। सीन जो वर्णन किया है उसके ठीक उल्टा है। बच्ची अपने मर्ज़ी से नाच रही है- पिता देख कर झेंप जाता है & शर्मिंदा होता है।नाच उत्तेजक नहीं है, बच्ची बस नाच रही है, वो नहीं जानती समाज उसे भी sexualise करेगा- scene यही दिखाता है। #Rashbhari https://t.co/xUAmRBHHjJ
— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) June 26, 2020 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">आदर सहित सर, शायद आप scene ग़लत समझ रहे हैं। सीन जो वर्णन किया है उसके ठीक उल्टा है। बच्ची अपने मर्ज़ी से नाच रही है- पिता देख कर झेंप जाता है & शर्मिंदा होता है।नाच उत्तेजक नहीं है, बच्ची बस नाच रही है, वो नहीं जानती समाज उसे भी sexualise करेगा- scene यही दिखाता है। #Rashbhari https://t.co/xUAmRBHHjJ
— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) June 26, 2020आदर सहित सर, शायद आप scene ग़लत समझ रहे हैं। सीन जो वर्णन किया है उसके ठीक उल्टा है। बच्ची अपने मर्ज़ी से नाच रही है- पिता देख कर झेंप जाता है & शर्मिंदा होता है।नाच उत्तेजक नहीं है, बच्ची बस नाच रही है, वो नहीं जानती समाज उसे भी sexualise करेगा- scene यही दिखाता है। #Rashbhari https://t.co/xUAmRBHHjJ
— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) June 26, 2020
Bookwala also defended the show.
"Sir, I feel like the scene has misrepresented itself to you. Or you've missed the glaring subtext and meta satire. We've all lived through the family circus and dance. This isn't a gender or age myopic exploitation, it's the hypocrisy of the effects of pop culture on society," he tweeted.
The series also features Rashmi Agdekar, Pradyuman Singh, Neelu Kohli and Chitranjan Tripathi.
With inputs from PTI
