NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: A row over alleged vulgarity in the Hindi version of a song of an upcoming Kannada film ‘KD: The Devil’ spilled into Parliament on Wednesday, with Samajwadi Party MP Anand Bhadoria flagging what he described as the harmful impact of unchecked explicit content on OTT platforms and social media.In response, Union information and broadcasting minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the song had already been banned. “A ban has been imposed on the song. The framers of the Constitution placed certain reasonable restrictions, and we should function within those limits. Freedom of speech cannot be absolute, it has to be in the context of the society and culture,” Vaishnaw said.The controversy centres on the smutty track ‘Sarse Ninna Serage Sarse’, written by Kannada director Prem, who has apologised following the backlash. The Hindi version of the song ‘Sarke Chunar Teri Sarke’ was written by Abdul Raqeem who claimed he had only translated it. Featuring Sanjay Dutt and Nora Fatehi, the song was released on YouTube two days ago and quickly went viral for its lyrics that appear to describe a sexual act. Karnataka State Commission for Women (KSCW) has also urged action against what it calls objectionable content in the original Kannada movie track.In her letter to Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC), KSCW chairperson Nagalakshmi Choudhary stated, “Such lyrics provoke the youth towards eve-teasing, especially targeting students and working women.” She urged the chamber to direct the filmmakers to avoid content that “outrages the modesty of women.” In a separate communication to the regional director of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), she requested that the board ensure the “objectionable portions are deleted or suitably modified” before certification.CBFC clarified that it has not received any application for certification of the song and does not regulate such digital content. “This is to clearly state that CBFC has not received any application seeking certification for the song ‘Sarke Chunar Teri Sarke’ from ‘KD: The Devil’ film. It is to be noted clearly that content on digital platforms is not certified by CBFC. There is often confusion about this and CBFC is unnecessarily dragged into matters that are not connected,” it said, adding that “in the case of this particular song all queries should be directed to the platform and the makers of the song.“
