Come one, come all

Captions and audio descriptions make movies and shows accessible to all, but will we see them in theatres anytime soon?

Reed Hastings, who stepped down as the CEO of Netflix yesterday after two decades, had a momentous 2011, when he separated the streaming business, launched four years previously, from the company’s DVD-by-mail service. In the immediate aftermath of the separation, Netflix lost 800,000 subscribers and its stock nosedived. However, as we know now,

Mr Hastings would go on to have the last laugh as he and Netflix converted a futuristic idea into the present.

An equally momentous thing happened for Netflix the following year, when it agreed to caption all its shows — a move that had to be completed by 2014. This came as a result of a class-action suit filed by the National Association for the Deaf in the United States, a suit Netflix had at first tried to resist.

Movies and other content platforms, especially the ever-burgeoning streaming platforms such as Netflix, called OTTs because they deliver stuff over the top of other internet networks, have come a long way since then to become more inclusive to the less fortunate among us, such as those who cannot see or hear properly. Which is why the Delhi High Court’s decisions this week, ordering Yash Raj Films to provide audio descriptions, subtitles, and closed captions for its next big release, Pathaan, and submit it for recertification to the Central Board of Film Certification, is important.

The experience of watching a film in a movie theatre cannot be denied to those who are visually or hearing impaired, Justice Pratibha Singh said. However, the court did not issue any direction on the theatrical release of the film, slated for January 25. The resubmission is to be done by February 20, and the court directed the censor board to make a decision by March 10. In the process, reports say, it can be derived that the film will come to an OTT in April.

Audio descriptions, subtitles, and closed captions are critical, each in its own way. Audio descriptions help a person with visual limitations experience a film. Subtitles assume the audience can hear, but not understand the language used in the movie or show; so, they show in text what is being spoken on screen. Closed captions are for those who cannot hear, and present in text not only the spoken parts but also the non-speech elements, such as background sounds and music, which could range from the sound of thunder to the ringing of a phone.

These are already available on most OTTs. In fact, OTTs also present a show or movie in multiple languages, which is a smart thing to do in a country such as India, where the audience is as large as it is diverse. On YouTube, by far the largest OTT in the world, adding text to videos provides a tremendous boost to the search function — the core business of YouTube’s parent, Alphabet, which owns Google, the search giant.

A lot of the content these days also carries subtitles in the same language as the audio, for those who know the language but cannot understand the dialogues — in part or whole — because of the accents used by the characters or their speed of delivery.

Same-language subtitles in India, as many other things do, play a role not usually seen elsewhere because of the unique situation in the country. The 2011 census, the last conducted, showed that India was home to 287 million illiterate adults, or 37 per cent of the global population of grown-ups who cannot read simple text. Reports show that even among the literates in India, not all can read properly, resulting in a smaller population of the functionally literate.

In this context, same-language subtitles are seen as a tool to increase functional literacy, and the most effective vehicle for this is understood to be Hindi film songs — and why not, there is a range to choose from for every hour from dusk to dawn and every occasion from birth to death. Fittingly, Rangoli, a Sunday morning parade of Bollywood songs on Doordarshan, is said to be an early adopter of same-language subtitles.

Given this backdrop, the high court’s instructions to Yash Raj Films generate hope as well as wistfulness. The hope is that it will provide guidance to all content creators — of films, television shows, or web series — to be sensitive to the needs of people with disabilities. Wistfulness because we may not immediately see audio descriptions or captions in theatres. That will take equipment such as headphones attached to seats for audio descriptions or apps that can be installed on phones. And it has to be seen how moviegoers react to text imposed on the big screen.