Ullu Takes Down ‘Explicit’ Show House Arrest, NCW Summons CEO

Amid mounting backlash, OTT platform Ullu has delisted controversial reality show House Arrest over its “explicit” content and visuals. 

Hosted by actor Ajaz Khan, the show came under fire recently after a clip from the show went viral online for suggestive content and graphic verbal exchanges. In the clip, Khan is seen coercing female participants to enact sexually suggestive acts on camera despite their verbal refusal. 

Contestants on the show were also reportedly asked to undress and perform obscene scenes on-screen.

The matter escalated after the National Commission for Women (NCW) issued notices and summoned Ullu CEO Vibhu Agarwal and the host to appear before the commission on May 9. 

“NCW takes suo moto cognizance of obscene content on Ullu App’s show House Arrest. Viral clips show women being coerced into intimate acts on camera. NCW slams the platform for promoting vulgarity & violating consent. CEO & host summoned on May 9,” the commission said in a post on social media platform X. 

Meanwhile, as per Financial Express, an advocate, by the name of Vineet Jindal has lodged a formal complaint against the makers and cast of the web series. 

The complainant reportedly alleged that the content of the series is highly objectionable, vulgar, and in direct violation of Indian cultural norms and legal guidelines. He also reportedly called for strict legal action against the creators, actors, producers, and all individuals associated with the production. 

Social Media Storm Erupts Over Controversy

Meanwhile, the controversy cooked up a storm online. While some users termed the clips “extremely cheap and indecent”, others questioned the lack of oversight over such shows in the country. 

Chiming on the debate, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction) leader and member of Parliament Priyanka Chaturvedi questioned why the Ullu app has not yet been banned by the Centre.

“I have raised this in the standing committee that apps such as this, namely, Ullu App and Alt Balaji have managed to escape the ban by I&B (information and broadcasting) ministry on apps for obscene content. I am still awaiting their reply,” said Chaturvedi in a post on X. 

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who heads the parliamentary standing committee on communications and information technology, also assured that such content would not be allowed online. “This won’t work, our committee will take action on this,” Dubey said in a post on X in Hindi. 

Speaking with news agency IANS, Maharashtra home minister Yogesh Kadam said that strict action will be taken against streaming platforms like Ullu if they do not follow norms laid down by the Centre. While noting that it was “intolerable” to use OTT platforms to spread obscenity, he added that summons has been issued to Ullu CEO, adding that immediate action has been ordered to stop the broadcast of the objectionable content.

Centre Looks To Crack The Whip

This comes barely a day after Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti reportedly underscored the need for further regulating online content. 

Raising concerns over how traditional media and cable was governed by strict legislation while digital media merely had self-regulation, he also reportedly pitched for a common regulation to regulate linear and digital content delivery mechanisms. 

Not just this, last month, the union government also informed the Supreme Court that it was working on new norms to curb obscenity on streaming platforms and social media sites. At the time, the SC had called the issue of obscene and objectionable content available on OTT streaming platforms a serious issue. 

To clamp down on such sites, the Centre, last year, also blocked access to 18 OTT streaming platforms for publishing “obscene, vulgar, and pornographic content”.

The matter gained national prominence earlier this year amid an uproar over alleged vulgar language used on YouTuber Samay Raina’s show ‘India’s Got Latent’. 

Following the row, the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) directed OTT streaming and social media platforms to adhere to the code of conduct prescribed under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media, Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The Centre also issues directions to platforms to ensure age-based classification of content, and implement access control mechanisms so that children have no access to adult content. 

Ullu, A Regular Offender?

This is not the first time that Ullu has landed in choppy regulatory waters for publishing obscene and vulgar content. 

In March 2024, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairperson Priyank Kanoongo wrote to the IT ministry seeking action against Ullu over “extremely obscene and objectionable” content, which was accessible even to children.

At the time, Kanoongo also said that Ullu had specific shows that targeted school kids with explicit sexual scenes and plotlines. 

This triggered probes by multiple government agencies including Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, and the IT ministry against the streaming platform for allegedly selling “pornographic” content using school children.

The controversy and multiple complaints to SEBI regarding explicit content on the platform likely resulted in delays in Ullu’s IPO. The company, which filed its draft IPO papers in February 2024, is yet to offer any clarity on its public listing plans. 

One such complaint before the SEBI was filed by Abhay Shah, coordinator of Swachh Cyber Bharat, who alleged, “The company is engaged in advertisement, production and distribution of illegal content which is obscene, profane, lascivious, sexually explicit pornography in spoken language and graphic display”. 

Some of the top shows on the Ullu platform are titled ‘Kavita Bhabhi’, ‘Palang Tod’, ‘Wife in a Metro’, ‘Charamsukh’ and ‘Chahat’. 

As per some reports, adult platforms like Ullu rope in young directors, who work out of hotel rooms or rented apartments on a shoe-string budget of around INR 1.25 Lakh to INR 2.5 Lakh per episode to produce such shows and then earn money from advertisements and subscriptions online.