[Nationalist
leaders decry scenes in the show “A Suitable Boy” between a Hindu and a Muslim,
at a time of rising interfaith conflict and government efforts to control online
content.]
In
the real world, that onscreen kiss has embroiled Netflix, the American
streaming service, in the increasingly bitter and religiously charged world of
Indian politics.
Members
of the Hindu nationalist party that controls India’s central government have
asked the authorities to investigate Netflix, calling the scene in the
television series “A Suitable Boy” offensive to their beliefs. They have also
called on Indians to boycott the streaming service.
Netflix
is not likely to face serious legal trouble, experts say. But the campaign puts
pressure on the streaming service at a time when the government is increasing
censorship of what Indians watch online.
The
campaign also comes as members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party are
pressing anti-Muslim initiatives, including one in the state of Madhya Pradesh
that would increase penalties against anyone found guilty of using marriage to
force someone to change religion. The party has won over a wide swath of Hindu
voters with its nationalist pitch, but it has also divided
the country and presided over an increase in religious tensions and
sometimes violence, particularly
against Muslims.
The
campaign “could perversely incite Netflix and other content producers to think
twice before commissioning work that depicts interfaith relations in a positive
light in the future,” said Gilles Verniers, a professor of political science at
Ashoka University.
Thomas
Cherian, a spokesman for Netflix, said the company had no comment on the police
complaint. Netflix, which launched in India only in 2016, has a small but
growing audience in the country.
“A
Suitable Boy” is based on a 1993 novel by Vikram Seth and revolves around a
young Hindu woman struggling with her mother’s edict that she must soon be wed.
The six-part series, originally produced by the BBC, takes place in the years
after the
partition of India, when millions of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs scrambled to
get on the correct side of the border after what is now Pakistan was carved out
of the country to be a mostly Muslim nation. An untold number of people
perished in the resulting violence.
The
series was directed by Mira Nair, who was born in India and has had a long
career as a filmmaker in India and Hollywood, directing movies including
“Monsoon Wedding,” “Mississippi Masala” and “Vanity Fair.”
Narottam
Mishra, a member of the B.J.P. and home minister in Madhya Pradesh state, said
on Monday that a party youth leader had filed the complaint about “A Suitable
Boy” because of scenes that depict the protagonists kissing at a Hindu temple.
“To
me there is nothing suitable in that. In our temple, if you are filming a
kissing scene, Rama music is on in the background, I do not consider it good,”
Mr. Mishra said at a news conference on Monday, referring to Hindu devotional
music. “For that there are other places.”
Rakesh
Kumar Singh, the police chief in the district where the complaint was filed,
said an investigation was underway.
The
complaint named Monika Shergill, vice president for content for Netflix India,
and Ambika Khurana, the company’s director of public policy in India.
If
convicted, Ms. Shergill and Ms. Khurana would face a jail term of up to three
years, a fine, or both.
In
India, intentionally hurting religious sentiments is a criminal offense, and
this isn’t the first time Bollywood actors, comedians or others in the
entertainment industry have been charged.
But
courts, including India’s Supreme Court, have generally taken a narrow view of
the law, saying that content deemed offensive by some isn’t necessarily
intentionally malicious, and that invoking the section on religious sentiment
too liberally threatens freedom of speech.
In
this case, legal experts said it was unlikely that a police investigation would
advance very far.
However,
the possibility of a chilling effect on Netflix is real, as rhetoric against
interreligious romance in India heats up and as the government of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi takes greater control over digital content.
Gaurav
Tiwari, the B.J.P. youth leader who filed the complaint, had issued a call to
action on Twitter even before that, urging his followers to delete Netflix from
their phones. He also accused the video-streaming service of promoting “love
jihad,” a term used by Hindu nationalists who accuse minority Muslims of luring
Hindu women to marry them and forcing them to convert to Islam to change
India’s demographic balance.
The
complaint was filed in Madhya Pradesh, the state where lawmakers are planning
to consider a bill early next year that would make forced
religious conversion by marriage a nonbailable offense subject to a five-year
sentence. Mr. Mishra has said the bill is meant to check the rising incidence
of forced conversions in the state.
State
legislatures in Uttar Pradesh, whose top official is a Hindu monk, and two
other B.J.P.-controlled states are likely to take up similar bills. The Vishwa
Hindu Parishad, a Hindu nationalist organization affiliated with the B.J.P., is
lobbying state governments across India for laws regulating interfaith
marriages.
Conservative
norms in India ensure that interreligious unions remain relatively rare, though
past Indian governments have encouraged secular views on the matter. India’s
Special Marriage Act, passed in 1954, was intended to bolster the secular
ideals in the country’s Constitution by overturning a British colonial-era law
that required the bride or groom to renounce his or her faith.
Amid
the rising tide of Hindu nationalism, interfaith relationships have come under
sharp criticism from anti-Muslim forces.
Last
month, a unit of India’s Tata conglomerate withdrew
a jewelry advertisement featuring a Hindu-Muslim family celebrating a
baby shower, following threats to one of its stores and wide criticism on
social media.
Beyond
issues of religion, Netflix and other streaming services were already getting
increased scrutiny from the Indian government.
Earlier
this month, the Indian government announced rules to regulate content on video
streaming platforms, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney’s
Hotstar. The Indian government already plays a similar role in movies and
broadcast television, but many users of streaming services enjoy the scant
restrictions on programming they watch online.
Free
speech advocates worry that Indian viewers could be subjected to the censorship
of language, sex, violence and even cigarette smoking they already experience
in Bollywood and Hollywood films shown in Indian movie theaters.
Bollywood
and show business have sometimes made for easy
targets for India’s politicians and activists. But they also can serve
as a handy rallying center for whipping up public sentiment. While “A Suitable
Boy” isn’t likely to get pulled from India’s smartphones and computer screens,
it could remain a political talking point for some time.
The
Netflix series “constitutes for these conservative organizations both a threat
as well as an opportunity to mobilize their base around a symbolic target, and
spread false notions that vilify Muslims at large,” said Mr. Verniers, of
Ashoka University.
Hari
Kumar contributed reporting.
