Chartered accountants ruffled by their unexpected status as sex symbols. Pakistani viewers up in arms over Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s portrayal of courtesans, and A-listers regretting their tell-all moments with Karan Johar.
This year, the drama behind the scenes threatened to outshine the on-screen action.
ThePrint rounded up some of the more controversial shows on OTT. Sometimes, the behind-the-scenes gossip is juicier than the plot twists.
IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack
Anubhav Sinha’s patriotism came under scrutiny with his re-telling of the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight IC-814 from Kathmandu to Delhi by Harkat-ul-Mujahideen terrorists. Viewers outraged over the use of ‘Hindu names’ like Bhola and Shankar as aliases for the terrorists. Sinha was accused of concealing the identity of the Pakistani hijackers, a claim that quickly reached the corridors of power.
BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya posted on X that with the use of non-Muslim aliases, people would “think Hindus hijacked IC-814”. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting summoned Netflix’s content head. The controversy boosted viewership, but unfortunately, the series itself was a tepid recreation of a dark chapter in India’s history.
Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper
India’s chartered accountants would rather stick to their boring number-crunching reputation than be thrust into the role of sex symbols. This quirky thriller on how a middle-class chartered accountant from Noida becomes a sought-after gigolo was a hit. But the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) was not amused. It even filed a defamation suit against the makers and Netflix. The argument? A chartered accountancy topper has to be exceptional, and to show him in such light could be a deterrent to future CAs.
Fortunately, the Delhi HC refused to impose a stay on the release. The show must go on.
Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar
In true Sanjay Leela Bhansali style, Heeramandi is an opulent over-the-top dramatisation of the courtesans of Lahore from the 1920s to the 1940s. Unfortunately, the extravagant sets and glittering costumes could not rescue the performance. Sharmin Segal, who played Alamzeb, was criticised for her wooden expressions.
The show also sparked outrage in Pakistan with viewers including former politician Yousuf Salahuddin claiming it was historically inaccurate and out of context. It failed to show the seedy underbelly of Heeramandi or contextualise it. If only Bhansali had set aside some of the Rs 200 crore budget for a historian.
Maharaj
It was meant to be the debut of Aamir Khan’s son Junaid. Instead, Maharaj, a historical drama on Gujarati journalist Karsandas Mulji, who was taken to court in the 1860s for an article on a powerful godman’s sexual abuse, was mired in its own court drama. But it ruffled the feathers of members of the Vaishnavite Pustimarg who petitioned the Gujarat High Court alleging that the movie misrepresented their religious beliefs.
The court eventually lifted its stay order, and the Siddharth P Malhotra film was released on Netflix on 21 June, a week after its original scheduled release. It was a muted debut, with hardly any promotions even though it was directed by Siddharth P Malhotra under the YRF Entertainment banner.
Koffee With Karan
A cup of coffee with Karan Johar is all it takes for A-listers to spill the beans. This talk show is entertainment at its best, but Season 8 (from December 2023-January 2024) got off to an interesting start. Deepika Padukone’s revelations that both she and Ranveer Singh were dating other people in the early years of their relationship caused an uproar, and revealed the double standards that women are held to. It didn’t end there. Padukone’s old joke on Ranbir Kapoor representing a condom brand resurfaced. The Kapoor clan did not find it funny.
It seemed to have made the makers cautious, and they toned down the rest of the episodes, so much so that Koffee with Karan lost its kick. The finale, which featured Tanmay Bhat, Danish Sait, Kusha Kapila, Sumukhi Suresh and Orhan Awatramani or Orry, also made it clear that the show was moving beyond the Bollywood celebrity culture. It was the year of influencers, and that in itself was a big conversation starter.
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