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Psychoanalysis of the Thematic Concerns on OTT in India

Article · June 2022

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Shruti Rawal
St Xavier's College, Jaipur, India
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 Kanpur Philosophers
ISSN 2348-8301
International Journal of Humanities, Law and Social Sciences
Published Biannually by New Archaeological & Genological Society
Kanpur India

Vol IX, Issue VI (I), 2022

PSYCHOANALYSIS OF THE THEMATIC CONCERNS ON OTT PLATFORMS IN INDIA

Dr. Shruti Rawal

Assistant Professor, Department of English, St. Xavier’s College, Jaipur

Keywords: OTT, pandemic, psychoanalysis, violence, sex, power

Abstract

The last year witnessed a completely new phenomenon with the spread of the pandemic and the
lockdown that subsequently followed. The lockdown in our country forced people to work within the
confines of their homes and the means of entertainment also underwent a drastic change. The multiplex
cinema, shopping complexes, and malls came to a standstill, along with the lives of the people and that
forced them to explore alternative modes. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Voot, Disney Hotstar and became
more popular than the channels on Indian television. This paper intends to explore the prominent
themes in the popular series and also focuses on how the subconscious has been explored through
these series. Obsession with violence, sex, patriotism, secret missions, political dramas, infidelity, and
murders will be analyzed through the lens of psychoanalysis to establish the reason for the same motifs
repeated in them. The immense popularity of these platforms and the repeated themes bring to fore
our society’s fixation with certain themes, which will also be explored in the research. The research
will focus on certain prominent and successful web series, like Mirzapurand Paatal Lok while also
using a few examples from other popular series and thereby understanding and establishing the reasons
for their popularity and the repeated themes in the web series.

Human life is uncertain and the uncertainties of human lives have been exponentially exposed by the
COVID ’19 pandemic. The lockdown that was subsequently imposed in our country compelled people
to work within the confines of their homes and the means of entertainment also underwent a drastic
change. The teaching pedagogy, the mode of business transactions, and means of entertainment also
witnessed corresponding changes. The multiplex cinema, shopping complexes, and malls came to a
standstill and so did the lives of the people which forced them to explore alternative modes. The
restrictions imposed by the government, followed by the fear of venturing into the real world prepared
fertile ground for the success of OTT platforms.

The research intends to understand the emergence of one such alternative means of entertainment: the
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OTT platform. OTT refers to ‘over the top’ which refers to ‘any streaming service that delivers content
over the internet. This study intends to explore the prominent themes in the popular series and also
focuses on how the subconscious has been explored through these series. The prominent themes in
most series are an obsession with violence, sex, patriotism, secret missions, political dramas, infidelity,
and murders, which will be analyzed through the lens of psychoanalysis to establish the reason for the
same motifs repeated in them. The immense popularity of these platforms and the repeated themes
bring to fore our society’s fixation with certain themes, which will also be explored in the research.

The emergence of OTT is not a recent phenomenon, nor does it owes its origin to the pandemic.
In 2007, when Netflix initiated making small videos and some movies available for its customers. It
further progressed into Netflix offering its subscribers the option to stream some of its movies and
television shows through the use of the Internetin the four walls of their homes. It was initially
unlimited around 2016 the service was available in more than 190 countries and territories. With House
of Cards came out in 2013 Netflix initiated streaming original content and became an instant craze.
Netflix then forayed further by streaming more original content and since then has continued to
flourish. In this journey, more companies like Amazon Prime, Disney Hot star, Voot, joined it.
According to a report published in India today, Netflix had crossed 200 million subscribers in 2020.
(India Today) Amazon Prime also has crossed the 200 million in 2021 and the market seems to be
filled with more possibilities.

The reasons for the popularity of the OTT platforms are innumerable and relevant in this
context. The way that scene of entertainment has evolved in a few years is remarkable and indeed is
significant. The guiding principle of the present generation has been an instant pleasure and the
inability to wait and hence the idea of immediate gratification in watching episode after episode is
enticing for this generation. The availability of devices, especially among the younger generation as
they switched to online classes is an important factor. The advancement of technology, like smart TVs
and handhelds, also aided this phenomenon. The internet is no longer restricted to metropolitan cities
and the popularity of the content of the OTTs also validates the same, which has small-town stories
and characters. The plans which are available for Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Voot are consumer-
friendly and often offered at a discount for the first year to lure the viewers and by the next year, the
consumer is so addicted that he is willing to pay full for it, especially when we compare it to dish TVs.
They flourished further as the multiplex closed due to the pandemic and the movies also were released
on OTT hence people were not left with much choice either.

Prominent Themes:

The most prominent themes of web series on OTT in India include violence, power, sex, infidelity,
identity, terrorism and politics. Most prominent web series across all platforms deal with in one form
or the other. The Sacred Games, She, Mirzapur, The Family Man and others have been analysed to
understand specific themes. The research has looked into two prominent series to analyse if further:
Mirzapur and Paatal Lok.
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Mirzapur is the story of power and politics, intertwined with drugs and violence. The central
character is who for the society is a millionaire carpet exporter who hides his real business and is the
don of Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh. His son, Munna, is an undeserving heir who indulges in local student
politics and dreams of inheriting his father's legacy one day, though his actions are extremely
irresponsible and thereby his father doubts his capabilities. Another important set of characters is
Guddu and Bablu whose father is a person of ideals and is not scared of standing up against the political
warlords. The brothers, defying the ideals of their father join Akhandanand Tripathi and soon get the
spotlight due to the ideal combination of brain and strength, which leads to the increasing jealousy of
Munna who then kills one of them and also the wife of the other. This sets the premise for the second
season where revenge took the centre stage, along with other sub-themes. Despite the massive
popularity of the series, it is difficult to overlook the fact that there were certain problematic aspects
in it. While violence is the focal point of the narrative, relationships seem to be governed solely by
power and politics. There are certain scenes that are not shot aesthetically and thereby appear hideous
like:

• Coerced sexual relationship between a daughter-in-law and father-in-law

• Rampant violence and meaningless killing (a scene where Bablu vomits while Guddu
mercilessly kills a person)

• Close relations, like brother, son, wife are constantly depicted as plotting to kill each other

 Golu’s act of hurting herself and her inability to empathize which seems improbable

Thus violence, not just in the form of frequent killings, rampant gunshots but also in terms of the
relationships becomes the basis of the series. It is thus problematic to identify the reason for its
soaring popularity, it can be the realistic depiction of crime in Uttar Pradesh or its unrealistic nature
of it.

Paatal Lok explores the nexus of crime, media, politics and religion. The series starts with the
arrest of four different people from diverse backgrounds by an honest cop Inspector Hathi Ram
Chaudhary who decides to take a journey to their past to solve this mystery as a means to get
professional accolades. There are different appalling scenes, a few of which have been listed
below:

• Hathoda Tyagi was depicted as beating the head open of his victims with a hammer, which was
followed by blood oozing from an open head.

• The depiction of the rape of little Cheeni by Shaakal, a pedophile rickshaw puller, is against
all the artistic ethics and morality.

• A group of armed upper-caste villagers in Punjab walk into a Manjaar (lower caste) household
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and throw down the decapitated head of one of their youth leaders. They come to take revenge
for the crimes of the offending son of the family whose sole fault was attempting to stand up
to upper-caste bullies. The men then take turns raping the boy’s mother while the boy flees and
the grandfather is forced to watch it helplessly.

These scenes along with many unnecessary images are deliberately inserted into the script. This
initiated with the critical acclaim for the realistic depiction of the events which was hailed by all but
became repetitive with every incoming web series. In fact, if we trace the emergence, it would
eventually lead to the popularity of Gangs of Wasseypur, which had a rustic charm due to the
uncorrupted language and emotions portrayed in the movie. Most of the web series that share the same
setting have over-exploited the language for titillation.

The reason for the popularity of these series on OTT can be understood with the lens of psychoanalysis
which can be defined “as a set of psychological theories and therapeutic techniques that have their
origin in the work and theories of Sigmund Freud” (McLeod). The core of psychoanalysis is the belief
that all people possess unconscious thoughts, feelings, desires, and memories that are repressed in an
attempt to be ‘normal’. Applied psychoanalysis employs the principles of the study of art, literature,
and real-world settings and situations. The theories become relevant in understanding the popularity
of the web series.

One justification would be that at the core our mind is still overwhelmed by the primal instincts of sex
and violence which though in normal life we successfully repress, but keeps coming to the fore and
we are inherently drawn towards it. What else could possibly explain the reason for the immense
popularity of Mirzapur. Sex and violence in the unconscious of the viewers who find their own
fantasies fulfilled on screen. Another more appeasing explanation could be Freud’s Escapism, which
is an attempt to avoid reality (in mild form Freud considered it necessary for human survival). Though
Sigmund Freud himself never used this term, literary critics have used it with reference to Freud. Even
in literature, escape literature is a genre that deals with texts that are beyond the grim realities. T.S.
Eliot in “Tradition and Individual Talent” writes, “Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an
escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of
course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from
these things.” Of course, Eliot is writing this in the twentieth century but the emotions of the romantic
poets like Keats and Shelley resounded with the same thought. The drudgery of human life becomes
too overwhelming as Keats says, “But on the viewless wings of Poesy/ Though the dull brain perplexes
and retards”. In this case, the wings are provided by the content on OTT which takes on the voyage.
At some level, as we struggled to cope with the pandemic, these platforms provided that imaginary
escape which was not only needed but essential to survive in a world that had become too dreary and
scary. It is indeed paradoxical that humans derived pleasure from pessimistic ideas too. Fantasy as a
means of escape always had a charm but violence to escape the omnipresent death or means of escape
sounds ridiculous but turned true with the success of these web series.

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Kanpur Philosophers Vol IX, Issue VI (I), June 2022

Conclusion:

The OTT has witnessed growth at an alarming rate, which has become an apt subject of study and
research. This viewership base has increased manifold due to the COVID ‘19 Pandemic. In order to
meet the demand of the consumers, especially the youth, video OTT content is overwhelmed with
often unnecessary detailed graphic scenes and adult themes. Due to easy accessibility and lack of
censorship young children have access to these shows, most of whom have their own devices due to
online classes which is a matter of concern. “Sex+Violence” seems to be the formula, along with
forced abusive words. This has resulted in sections of the society asking for censorship of content on
OTT and the eternal debate about the right to freedom and expression. The government has recently
announced guidelines to monitor the content on OTT. There have been series like Bandish Bandits
and Panchayatwhich were original, had refreshingly new plots and received immense popularity
which proves that there is much scope for web series with originality and refreshing content.Bandish
Bandits deals with the quest of an upcoming singer rooted in traditions while being juxtaposed with a
modern popular singer. Panchayat, on the other hand, is about a man being posted in a remote village
while preparing for his entrance MBA. The series is refreshing, and realistic and addresses both evils
and the beauty of rural life while discussing important gender concerns. Both these series are examples
of India capable of creating content for OTT, that does not ape the western series, nor does it have to
blindly apply any formula for the success. OTT comes with a great opportunity for upcoming actors,
writers, and producers to showcase their stories with different ideologies and capture the true essence
of our country, and frees them from the clutches and hegemony of the prominent TV channels and
producers.

Works Cited:

https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/netflix-added-37-million-new-paying-subscribers-
in-2020-while-cinemas-struggled-amid-pandemic-1761308-2021-01-21

Eliot, T. S. (1982). “Tradition and the Individual Talent”. Perspecta, Vol. 19, pp. 36-42.

McLeod, Saul. “Psychoanalysis”. Simply Psychology. Published 2007.

https://www.simplypsychology.org/psychoanalysis.html

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