Ajaz Khan House Arrest show is why OTT faces flak. It's soft porn in disguise

The Print

04-05-2025

The 1:56-second clip from the show is symptomatic of a worrying trend on OTT that threatens to bring back 'creative freedom' in India. This is not your typical reality show like Roadies or Splitsvilla —it takes things a step further. House Arrest is a cocktail of abuse, soft porn, and sexism. And even if someone doesn't have access to the OTT platform itself, they can easily watch its most vulgar clips on social media, where they're freely circulating.
In the same show, some women were made to remove their clothing. The video is now viral on social media and has yet again given the window to voices that often push for scrutinising creative freedom on OTT and demand a blanket ban. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi posted the clip on X and demanded the government look into the kind of content being pushed in the name of creativity.
A woman contestant on a show called House Arrest , a reality show telecast on the Ullu app, said that she doesn't know much about sex. Suddenly, the host of the show, Ajaz Khan, asked other contestants to teach her sex positions. They don't undress, but they move their bodies to make it look real. Khan pressured a female contestant to act out positions with male contestants. When she hesitated and admitted she is inexperienced, Khan asked, ' Tumne experiment nahi kiya kabhi? ' (You have never experimented?).
Downfall of digital kranti
Ullu, ALTBalaji, Kooku, PrimePlay and NueFlix etc have built their entire existence around soft porn conten, thriving on shows such as Charamsukh, Gandii Baat, Panchali, and Riti Riwaj.
When OTT platforms first came, they disrupted the formula-based showbiz. It was sort of a digital kranti. There was freedom from censorship, there were meaningful stories, bold themes that redefined what Indian content could look like, with shows such as Delhi Crime, Paatal Lok, and Scam 1992. But with time, just like Bollywood and cable TV with its late-night B-grade movie slots, some parts of OTT platforms became a dumping ground for hyper-sexualised content. What was supposed to uplift the standard of cinema and create space for new talent has become a space for tasteless adult content.
Such platforms threaten collateral damage to the entire OTTverse. Because most crackdowns aren't nuanced.
The controversy around House Arrest is not surprising, but it is disturbing for sure. The Supreme Court had also issued notices to the Centre and OTT platforms over the rise in such content, noting that freedom of expression is important, but it cannot come without limits. The Court said that platforms have a 'social responsibility.' This same thought was shared by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who criticised the 'disgusting content' being served to India's youth.
The creative freedom debate and the social responsibility debate aren't about moral policing, but a call for accountability.
Creative freedom is important, but so is a sense of proportion. B-grade movies aren't art—they are just serving sexual content.
This is not happening for the first time. Cable TV has done it in the past when it used to provide soft porn content at specific hours—late nights. But it wasn't very accessible and TV was often under parental control. With the internet and mobile, these platforms have provided content that can be watched in personal space, and that is why their reach is deeper, exposing even the underage.
When Randeep Allahbadia made an adult joke on a reality show, it became a national issue, hit people's psyche, and FIRs rained. It was disturbing for a lot of people. What was shown in the House Arrest episode is now a daily reality of Indian OTT, a culture that will only take it back in time, close to TV and cable. Creativity's newest platform is also becoming its deathbed.
Views are personal.