Namit Das on OTT censorship: I don’t like people deciding for me

New Delhi, Dec 22 Actor Namit Das is currently one of the favourites in the digital space. He agrees that there are many exciting choices on the platform, and he believes censorship should be a personal choice.

This year, the audience saw Namit across digital platforms in projects such as “A Suitable Boy”, “Aarya” and “Mafia”. He is now awaiting the streaming of his next, “Aafat-E-Ishq”.

“I am only working for OTT right now. My next film, Aafat-E-Ishq, which is coming out soon is an OTT film. Earlier, one was doing only films and some amount of television. Now, actors are bombarded with work from OTT platforms. It’s really great,” the actor told IANS.

“It’s definitely a good time for actors. We are getting a lot of opportunities to be part of very different kinds of stories, to play different characters. I think it’s the polarity of these characters which is also attracting makers towards me where people feel that ‘oh! let’s cast him in this’. These are exciting choices which the makers are also able to make because of the kind of stories that can be told now. So, yes one does get a lot of space,” added the actor, who has acted in feature films as well as TV shows.

Asked if content on OTT should be censored, he said: “I personally don’t believe in censorship. I believe that censorship is a very personal choice. If you have children in your house, you take a call of not letting them watch certain stuff. I think that should be a personal choice. I don’t agree with people putting censorship on me, and people deciding for me. I don’t like that.”

However, he understands that “sometimes these decisions are taken by bigger bodies who think about the society as a whole, and what influence it would have on people. So I understand their perspective also. Personally speaking, I am not too fond of censorship”.

The year 2020, which saw everything coming to a standstill due to the pandemic, has been a learning experience for him.

“I think it’s an important year for all us, what we have gone through together. To live with basic essentials and how we can function with that, I think that for me is one of the biggest learnings of 2020,” he said.

Moving towards 2021, he would want to execute this with “hope, faith, and a lot of love”.