Mukul Chadda on 'Tandav' controversy: I'm all for certification, not censorship; let people decide what they want to watch

As the 'Tandav' controversy rages on, the self-regulation versus censorship debate has been brought under the spotlight once again. The government, on the other hand, is reportedly gearing up to introduce broad content guidelines for video-streaming platforms with the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) working on specific legislative changes.
Actor Mukul Chadda, who recently dipped his toes in the digital pool with the short film ‘Banana Bread’, co-starring wife, Rasika Dugal, weighed in the certification versus censorship battle that is bound to attract varied opinions.As an artist trying to push the envelope and explore new forms of storytelling, Chadda got candid in his interview with ETimes and shared his thoughts about the possibility of OTT platforms begin brought under the I&B ministry's watch.
“I'm not for censoring content, but merely certifying it as appropriate for a certain age group. This should hold true for films and TV content as well, not just OTT platforms. Be it online or regular feature films, let people decide what they want to watch or not,” Mukul said in reaction to the ongoing ‘Tandav’ row.

The actor, who has pursued projects on traditional and modern platforms, also shared his idea of an ideal script and revealed his favourite medium. Chadda said, “The script should appeal to me as a viewer. If I'm engaged and excited while reading it, I'm more inclined to do the project. Of course, the character I'm being considered also matters a lot - how challenging is the role, how different is it from what I've done earlier, how central it is to the story, and how much fun I might have playing it!”
“Regarding the medium of distribution - Theatre, OTT, TV - I'm fairly agnostic to it, the process of filming is the same in all cases, with one exception. Often the time given to shoot each scene is different based on the medium of distribution, and in this regard, I prefer projects that will give more time to shoot a scene,” he added.

As far as the ‘Tandav’ controversy is concerned, the Supreme Court, on Wednesday declined to grant interim protection from arrest to director Ali Abbas Zafar, and others seeking quashing of FIRs against them for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. Besides seeking quashing of the FIRs, the pleas also sought clubbing of FIRs.
The bench headed by Ashok Bhushan observed that the right to freedom of speech is not absolute and it is subjected to restrictions. However, the bench said that the police can file closure reports too if apologies have been made and sought responses from states such as UP, MP, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar and Delhi on the pleas.

‘Tandav’, a nine-episode political thriller starring Bollywood A-listers Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia and Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub in lead roles.