Streaming Sans Limits

What we watch isn’t only for eyes; it’s the way we subconsciously remember, act and incorporate change into our lifestyle. The last decade has silently rewritten the rules of how and what India watches, reacts, and even thinks. The idiot box, the television set that once ruled the houses, has long since been forgotten and is now competing with something far more personal and far more powerful: the OTT platforms. With a screen in every hand and content available at will, platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, JioHotstar, and SonyLIV are no longer just replacing the concept of entertainment but evolving into genre-specific content broadcast through web series, mini-series, movies, and short films, giving small and startup productions a huge platform to play with creativity. But as George Sand says, “Art for art’s sake is an empty phrase. Art for the sake of truth, art for the sake of the good and the beautiful, that is the faith I am searching for. ” This paper questions whether India’s “publish-first, regulate-later” model under the IT Rules 2021 and the proposed Broadcasting Bill maintains the right balance between creative freedom and societal responsibility.