Regressive content is all over: So why ban Comedy Central?

The News Minute | November 27, 2014 | 12.33 pm IST

On Tuesday, the Delhi High court received a lot of flak about upholding a ban on entertainment channel Comedy Central. The court upheld a ban imposed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on the channel on May 17, 2013.

According to a report in Mint, the government had imposed the ban because two shows telecast in May and June 2012 were “not suitable for unrestricted public exhibition and children as the same depicted women as a commodity of sex and appeared to deprave, corrupt and injure the public morality and morals”. The ban was imposed under the Cable Television Networks Rules.

So if we are to adopt the rationale used by the Government of India, we would have absolutely no entertainment, except maybe sports and animal films and tv shows. Offhand, those are the only ones which maybe have content that is unobjectionable.

Here’s a very hastily put together list of suggestions to the MIB (not Men in Black, but Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Men in Black would not be appropriate for little kids. Imagine how long the list would have been if there was time for Content Analysis / Semiotic Analysis. But it might be a futile exercise as the plots and themes of many serials are eerily similar.)

Atipookkal – Tamil serial in which a woman chooses not to get married because she has a surrogate child whom she is devoted to.

Is pyaar ko kya naam doon- Ek baar phir –

Hindi serial in which man hits his girlfriend, throws her out, treats her like dirt, but she still stays with him.

Sasural Simar ka –

This serial is too confusing to summarize as people die, are re-born scheme, kill and still are depicted as any other Indian family, so we will just use the description on the website of the channel that runs it. The serial takes a two-year leap forward in “plot progression” after endless plots of Roli/ Simar getting married, separated, re-married and re-separated. (It shall speak for itself). “It is now Roli, who will be seen taking care of Simar and Prem’s daughter Anjali. “But, the surprise doesn’t end here! While we did see a dead body from the accident spot, we are not really sure if Simar is dead or not. The leap will also bring to us a new Simar , who will be seen in a different avatar—Sunaina-- taking care of a new family. What happened to Simar? Whose dead body did the Bhardwaj family see? If Simar was dead, who is this Simar’s look-alike?

All your anxieties will have an answer soon! Don’t forget to tune in to Sasural Simar Ka today, 7:30 pm onwards!”

Saath Nibhana Sathiya – The mother-in-law is actually supposed to be a good person, but will throw the daughter-in-law out of the house every other episode depending on her temper.

Doli Armaanon ki –

The serial romanticizes domestic violence and the wife initially fights back when her husband hits her, but then Stockholm Syndrome kicks in and there is are sporadic bursts of love. But then she wants a divorce... not after the domestic violence, but because he slept with another woman.