Streaming platform Amazon prime is censoring some of its Hindi content, while Netflix isn’t, claims Live Mint report. Vidya Balan starrer Dirty Picture had scenes missing on Amazon Prime, including an erotic scene and explicit dialogue. The result is that the movie has a total running time which is 17 minutes shorter than its version on Netflix.
Even sex comedy movie Hunter which was released in 2015 is nine minutes shorter on Amazon prime, while on Netflix has the original length. The report said, “Amazon voluntarily editing content raises the question whether self-censorship influences the company’s decision on buying movie titles. So far, Amazon has stayed away from streaming movies that have been denied a public release by the Censor Board of India. However, three such banned movies, Unfreedom, Firaaq and Gandu, are available on Netflix.”
Recently Amazon India was pulled up by US Amazon team for censoring the content, saying that Indian team can only censor its Indian content. However the Indian content would air worldwide without any censorship. The question of self-censorship by streaming platforms has been discussed several times. In November, The Print quoted “two reliable government sources” as saying “Netflix and Hotstar agreed to adopt the ‘best practices internationally’ and come up with a set of guidelines to self-regulate the content they broadcast.” Netflix denied this.