Raj Kundra and the rise of OTT porn industry
India Today
Numerous OTT apps have mushroomed, targeting the multitudes of mainly media-hungry men with mobile phones and 4G. Raj Kundra is now facing a long trial and probable punishment in connection with a sensational porn videos racket.
In the shadows of the OTT binge-watch boom in India, another boom happened that went largely unnoticed, or was deliberately ignored: desi porn. Mimicking the web-series explosion on platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, numerous OTT apps mushroomed that targeted the multitudes of mainly media-hungry men with mobile phones and 4G. The pandemic also came in as a push to this industry. At a time when people were locked in in their homes with little entertainment otherwise, these apps provided easy recreation at affordable prices. A government order had banned the popular porn sites in India. Pornography remains illegal. Soft-porn, bold films, pondies as they are called were few and far in between. There was a huge market potential and players perceived the gap well and dived right in. That over Rs 3,500-crore market was created by players who remained in the shadows. They didn't start the fire though. It began with big Bollywood production houses testing waters in erotica because one could push the envelope in an unregulated market. You see this entirely new platform of streaming content did not have the censorship sword hanging over it. The government is yet to work out just how it will go about certifying the stuff that streams. AltBalaji experimented with some raunchy endeavours that were runaway hits. MX Player tasted success with the age-old North Indian obsession with bhabhi as the sex symbol. They were edgy but careful, careful enough to not annoy the regulators and attract negative attention. Nudity was partial and props were placed in the right places to obstruct the view from being labelled as porn.More Related News