New Delhi/Mumbai | The controversy over "Sarke Chunar" and its sexually explicit lyrics spilled over from angry discussions on social media platforms and elsewhere to Parliament on Wednesday with the government saying the song from the upcoming film "KD The Devil" has already been banned.
Actor Nora Fatehi, who features in the video along with Sanjay Dutt, distanced herself from the gathering storm, saying she had flagged the vulgarity of the Hindi version to the filmmakers. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued notice to the Information and Broadcasting ministry and the Censor Board, which in turn said it had nothing to do with the matter since the song was released on YouTube.
As the issue gathered traction, Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Anand Bhadoria brought it up in the Lok Sabha during Question Hour. Unchecked content on OTT platforms and social media was a bad influence, he said.
Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in his response that the song has already been banned.
"A ban has been imposed on the song. The framers of 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 way things are spreading rapidly today through digital medium, for the protection of the society, especially for the protection of children, women and deprived groups of the society, whatever hard actions should be taken, the government is ready to take them," he added.
The song was released on YouTube two days ago and quickly went viral for its shock value and lyrics that almost describe a sexual act, triggering outrage on social media. The video disappeared from the platform after the uproar.
"KD The Devil" is a Kannada film, dubbed in four languages, including Hindi. It will release on April 30.
Fatehi posted a video message on Instagram to say she was thankful for the backlash as it pushed the makers to finally remove the song from social media.
"I'd also request everyone to stop sharing the song because you're just giving it a platform unnecessarily. On a side note, I see some of you guys trying to use this as an opportunity to attack my character, it's unfortunate," Fatehi said, adding that she and her team will be more careful in future.
"However, I do want to reiterate that I had no idea about this Hindi song, I did not perform it and there was no permission taken to use it with my image," she said.
The actor-dancer said she agreed to do the song as it was part of a big film and featured a star like Dutt, and she had thought it was a remake of "Layak Nahi Khalnayak Hoon Main".
"I shot this song three years ago in a language called Kannada, which is a part of a different industry called Sandalwood. When I'm on set shooting for this song, I'm relying on the filmmakers to translate the song, and that is what I go by. When they're translating the song, nothing seemed inappropriate or vulgar," she said.
Fatehi also said the image showing her sitting on Dutt's lap, which appears on posters of the song's various language versions, is AI-generated.
"I knew we were going to have issues because at least I understand Hindi. I told the director, this is not going to be okay... I disassociated myself with the project. As you can see, I didn't promote it at all. I again flagged it to the director. I said, my image and reputation is on the line," Fatehi said.
The NHRC action came after it received a complaint alleging that the lyrics of "Sarke Chunar" contains "vulgar, sexually suggestive, and double-meaning" words which are inappropriate for public consumption, especially for children, according to the proceedings of the case on Tuesday.
Seeking the NHRC's intervention, the complainant alleged that the "increasing trend of explicit lyrical content in mainstream entertainment" contributes to "normalisation of inappropriate expressions among young audiences", read the proceedings.
It also sought a report from the certification authority concerned.
The censor board, however, said content on digital platform is not regulated by them.
"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," the censor board said in a statement.
The original Kannada version of the song is penned by the movie's director Prem. Raqeeb Alam is credited for the Hindi version of the song, which has since been pulled down. The music is by Arjun Janya.
On Tuesday, Alam also dissociated himself from "Sarke Chunar", saying the track was a literal translation from the Kannada original and he had initially refused to write it.
"I have not written these lyrics. They were written by the film's director Prem in Kannada. When I was asked to write all this, I refused, saying such songs won't work, and will be censored too," Alam told HT City.
