- Monday, April 21, 2025
By: indiaweekly.biz Staff
Censorship on web will curtail the freedom to share one’s vision, believes “Inside Edge” creator Karan Anushman, who says he is “anti-censorship”.
Reacting to the reports of the government asking various streaming services to develop a self-regulatory code, Karan, the creator of Amazon Prime shows like “Inside Edge” and “Mirzapur”, said, “It worries me”.
“Anyone who’s creative in any manner is going to be worried about this because we need all the freedom we can get and viewers need all the freedom to choose,” he told PTI.
In September, at an interaction between the film industry and members of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), Information and Broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar had invited suggestions for the certification of online content.
Karan said in an era of Internet it is impossible to censor content.
“Now you have technology, there’s parental lock, you have a way to monitor things. Kids these days are super smart, they can circumvent any censorship, because the internet isn’t going to shut down. What are you going to censor one or two shows here? It makes no sense. I’m anti-censorship.”
However, recently Amazon Prime Video removed the first episode of season five of American political series “Madam Secretary”.
The decision was reportedly made considering the episode’s focus on Hindu nationalism, Kashmir and violence against Muslims and other minorities in India.
Asked to comment on the same, Karan said he was uninformed on the matter.
“In terms of my experience with Amazon, it has been very positive and at no level have they told me to not do something because it could be a censor issue.”
The director added that Amazon believes in giving a freehand to its collaborators.
“They never really tell you (to not do something). But like any studio, they give very constructive notes on the scripts and it’s up to us if we want to incorporate it. There is always a sensible discussion.”
For the second season of “Inside Edge”, Karan said he had immense support from both, the streamer and production banner, Excel Entertainment.
“I want to raise some questions with the show. The ‘what ifs’. Because cricket is no longer a simple sport where two teams are playing, it seems there’s a lot more.
“The first season focused on fixing, betting, in the second one we have explored the auction scenarios, and have also closely looked at doping in sports,” he added.
“Inside Edge” is set in the landscape of sports and deals with power, money, fame and the mind games. It stars Richa Chadha, Vivek Oberoi, Sayani Gupta, Angad Bedi, Sapna Pabbi among others. “Inside Edge” season two will stream from December 6.
