Here’s what Mumbaikars think about the ‘Bombay Begums’ controversy

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights NCPCR has asked Netflix to stop streaming their new show lsquoBombay Begumsrsquo on Thursday after receiving a complaint about it The child rights body sent a notice to the OTT platform asking them to provide a detailed action report within 24 hours or face legal action Taking note of the alleged inappropriate portrayal of children the NCPCR said the showrsquos content might result in children being exploited and abused In the notice to Netflix the commission said Netflix should take extra precaution while streaming any content in respect of the children or for the children and shall also refrain themselves from getting into such thingsAlso Read NCPCR asks Netflix to stop streaming Bombay Begums over inappropriate portrayal of childrenldquoTherefore you are directed to look into this matter and immediately stop streaming of this series and furnish a detailed action report within 24 hours failing which the Commission will be constrained to initiate appropriate action pursuant to the provisions of Section 14 of the CPCR Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act 2005rdquoPriyank Kanoongo Chairperson NCPCR told NDTV ldquoWhatrsquos wrong is wrong Adults or children should not be groomed in a wrong way We are waiting for a response from Netflix We will figure what to do next after their responserdquoMiddaycom reached out to Mumbaikars for their views on the portrayal of alcohol and substance abuse in the context of minors in pop culture Dr Nahid Dave psychiatrist Thought Matters MumbaiKids these days are very impressionable ndash what they see they want to emulate knowingly or unknowingly Platforms which are easily available which a child may be watching or just come across while flipping channels may affect their subconscious it might be something they feel ndash ldquothis is what I want to do or how I want to relaxrdquo That will have a very bad influence on the community There are a lot of teenagers these days who have YouTube channels where they are putting out a variety of content ndash thatrsquos what the trend is They try to adapt things and add their creativity to it For OTT platforms you need to subscribe and log in TV channels and other media are more easily accessible As far as OTT platforms are concerned the responsibility also falls on the viewer regarding what content they are watching Content producers need to be careful about which platform they are portraying things onArti Shroff psychologist and counsellor MumbaiThere is a fine line between what they want to project as lsquocinemarsquo and normalising risktaking behaviours in adolescents We have often seen that lsquonormalisingrsquo or lsquoglamourisingrsquo such kind of content can lead to a rise in the prevalence of such behaviours this is often termed by researchers as the lsquocopycat effectrsquo However this does not mean that the rise in risktaking and injurious behaviours ndash such as engaging in drug use in this case ndash will occur only because of what is seen in the media What we see in the show lsquoBombay Begumsrsquo is a true reflection of what we see in reality We see a young adolescent girl who is dealing with numerous psychological disturbances such as bodyimage issues family conflict peer pressure anger issues grief and low selfesteem to name only a few It is no surprise that she turns to drugs to cope with these challenges According to me it is a doubleedged sword I do not think depicting the reality is wrong but it needs to be shown in the right context turning a blind eye to reallife problems is not the solution Instead what they should do is ensure the audience is provided with disclaimers to inform viewers about potential risks and harm as well as providing them with information on relevant mental health professional servicesVijayalakshmi Narayanan senior creative content writerradiocityin MumbaiMakers are telling the stories they believe in which must be told If they have to be mindful about everyones sentiments the purpose of storytelling is lost The primary goal of art is to engage and start a dialogue about issues that remain unaddressed among us Given how misled and unaware our society is about these issues art holds the mirror to our collective conscience When you are portraying the truth it is unsettling and uncomfortable Also teenagers are indulging in such activities and the purpose of recreating them is to create awareness among parents who are the target audience of shows such as lsquoBombay BegumsrsquoSheryl Fonseca Principal Drsquosilva High School Bhayander WestIt is important for the parents to talk to their children and be their friend more than a parent It will help them understand their children better and even keep a check on their friendrsquos circle so that they donrsquot fall into bad company that can influence them and keep a check on what their children are watchingrdquo Fonseca says if the child does get influenced by bad company then the parents should consider taking the child for a counseling sessionChinmay Patil college student MumbaiI think it will be a bad influence on teenagers because more than parents their kids use Netflix these days And if they already think smoking and doing drugs is cool watching it on a show will lead to an even greater curiosity to try these thingsShruti Nair college student MumbaiTeenagers today are already widely influenced by drug abuse and the government and various NGOs have put in place methods and measures to stop this Showing drug abuse on OTT platforms TV serials or movies encourages more teenagers to use drugs and consume alcohol I know that not every teenager gets influenced easily but itrsquos still a huge risk and I think the NCPCR decision is correct because even a small step towards ending drug and alcohol abuse could bring a tremendous change in the lives of teenagersJayshree Vaswani parent MumbaiI am the parent of a teenager and have watched the series lsquoBombay Begumsrsquo with my daughter OTT platforms show teenagers taking drugs and drinking however they also show the negative impact it has on lives how it ruins a teenager in some way or the other Violence kidnapping and rape is common content in our Bollywood movies If we need to ban drugs and drinking being showed then we need to ban all types of movies as they can all have a negative impact But really I dont think lsquoBombay Begumsrsquo should be banned We need to watch OTT content with an open mind and teach our teenagers to do the same thingInputs by Anuka Roy