First Act
Director(s)Deepa Bhatia
Production year2023
Genre(s)Documentary, Drama
Approx. running minutes29m
CastAdrija Sinha, Ronnish Maini, Ekta Methai
First Act
Classified Date:
21/12/2023
Use:
VOD/Streaming
Distributor:
Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
sexual violence references
Classified Date:
03/01/2024
Use:
VOD/Streaming
FIRST ACT is an Indian documentary series which chronicles the journey of child actors in India; in this episode, the pressure begins to impact on the children and their families as they audition for roles.
sexual violence and sexual threat
During an audition for a film, a woman is asked to act out being raped by her father in law. It is stated that the man has forced himself on her character a number of times previously. Although the visuals are discreet, her terrified screams can be heard and it is also implied that she is not entirely comfortable with the scene.
additional issues
A young woman performs a comedy sketch about her mother forcing her to dress provocatively in order to entice a suitor; she subsequently says she found the sketch abusive. Child actors, rehearsing a scene, pick up a gun and threaten to shoot someone off screen. In another audition, we find out that the role on offer is of an abused child and the child actor tells a woman, within the scene, that his father gets drunk and beats him.
references to discrimination
Classified Date:
03/01/2024
Use:
VOD/Streaming
FIRST ACT is a Hindi language documentary series; in this episode, families face financial pressures and possible underhand tactics as they try to help their children break into the film industry.
discrimination
A child actor talks about her concerns over her fluctuating weight, eating habits and that she is offered what she calls 'fat girl roles'.
additional issues
A teenage girl who has worked as a child actor talks about the emotional upset of missing out on roles and the financial pressures faced by her family. There is undetailed sight of dead birds on the floor of an empty flat. Families fear they are being taken advantage of by scammers trying to get them to pay for their children's acting auditions.
moderate threat
Classified Date:
04/01/2024
Use:
VOD/Streaming
FIRST ACT is an Hindi language documentary series; in this episode children attend auditions where they battle low-self esteem and overbearing parents.
threat and horror
A mother and her young teenage daughter avoid being scammed by two people requesting an audition fee, and purporting it will focus on the girl's acting skills and body type.
additional issues
There are references to stage parents being bullish towards their children before and during auditions. A mother tells her child if he does poorly in the audition he will be auditioning for another 15 hours, and there is a montage of children getting stage fright. There are references to a young woman feeling as though she should lose weight for acting roles.
domestic abuse, sexual violence references, moderate injury detail
Classified Date:
04/01/2024
Use:
VOD/Streaming
FIRST ACT is an Hindi language documentary series; in this episode, families persist with auditions, refusing to let the dream die, even at the expense of their child's wellbeing and happiness.
violence
There are references to a child being tied to a chair and beaten by his father after failing an audition. There is a scene of emotional abuse in which a father threatens to leave his child and not pay for things when he misbehaves at an audition.
injury detail
There is injury detail of a dead body lying in a pool of blood on a movie set.
sexual violence and sexual threat
There are references to actresses feeling pressured into accepting roles with rape scenes. There are references to an actress participating in a rape scene as a minor and her parents not preventing this.
additional issues
There are undetailed references to a woman playing the role of a prostitute as a teenager.
references to sexualisation of children, bullying references
Classified Date:
04/01/2024
Use:
VOD/Streaming
FIRST ACT is a Hindi language documentary series concerning the challenges faced by child actors and their parents in the Hindi film and TV industry; in this episode, participants talk about the often harsh reality of life in the industry.
sexual violence and sexual threat
There are scenes in which adults speak disapprovingly about children being inappropriately sexualised and performing inappropriate scenes. These include a scene in which a girl recites an inappropriate sexual joke, another scene in which a girl makes a sexual gesture accompanied by online harassment, and also one in which a young girl briefly performs whilst wearing skimpy clothes. This is clearly disapproved of by the work as a whole.
theme
There are references to bullying, including scenes in which a man refers to people taunting him and his family for their determination to see their son succeed in the entertainment business. There are also references to children becoming addicted to online platforms and, accordingly, being susceptible to online bullying and abuse.
additional issues
The episode contains brief references to the death of a teenager.
drug references, brief discrimination
Classified Date:
04/01/2024
Use:
VOD/Streaming
FIRST ACT is a Hindi language documentary series; in this episode, former child stars discuss the lack of sustainable work that followed their big break.
discrimination
A woman makes a discriminative brief remark, however discrimination is not condoned by the episode as a whole.
drugs
A man describes turning to drugs, which led him to be arrested.
additional issues
References are made to mental health issues including depression which people have suffered in the past.
Classified date03/01/2024
LanguageHindi
discrimination
A child actor talks about her concerns over her fluctuating weight, eating habits and that she is offered what she calls 'fat girl roles'.
additional issues
A teenage girl who has worked as a child actor talks about the emotional upset of missing out on roles and the financial pressures faced by her family. There is undetailed sight of dead birds on the floor of an empty flat. Families fear they are being taken advantage of by scammers trying to get them to pay for their children's acting auditions.
domestic abuse, sexual violence references, moderate injury detail
Classified Date:
04/01/2024
Use:
VOD/Streaming
violence
There are references to a child being tied to a chair and beaten by his father after failing an audition. There is a scene of emotional abuse in which a father threatens to leave his child and not pay for things when he misbehaves at an audition.
injury detail
There is injury detail of a dead body lying in a pool of blood on a movie set.
sexual violence and sexual threat
There are references to actresses feeling pressured into accepting roles with rape scenes. There are references to an actress participating in a rape scene as a minor and her parents not preventing this.
additional issues
There are undetailed references to a woman playing the role of a prostitute as a teenager.
moderate threat
Classified Date:
04/01/2024
Use:
VOD/Streaming
threat and horror
A mother and her young teenage daughter avoid being scammed by two people requesting an audition fee, and purporting it will focus on the girl's acting skills and body type.
additional issues
There are references to stage parents being bullish towards their children before and during auditions. A mother tells her child if he does poorly in the audition he will be auditioning for another 15 hours, and there is a montage of children getting stage fright. There are references to a young woman feeling as though she should lose weight for acting roles.
references to sexualisation of children, bullying references
Classified Date:
04/01/2024
Use:
VOD/Streaming
sexual violence and sexual threat
There are scenes in which adults speak disapprovingly about children being inappropriately sexualised and performing inappropriate scenes. These include a scene in which a girl recites an inappropriate sexual joke, another scene in which a girl makes a sexual gesture accompanied by online harassment, and also one in which a young girl briefly performs whilst wearing skimpy clothes. This is clearly disapproved of by the work as a whole.
theme
There are references to bullying, including scenes in which a man refers to people taunting him and his family for their determination to see their son succeed in the entertainment business. There are also references to children becoming addicted to online platforms and, accordingly, being susceptible to online bullying and abuse.
additional issues
The episode contains brief references to the death of a teenager.
drug references, brief discrimination
Classified Date:
04/01/2024
Use:
VOD/Streaming
discrimination
A woman makes a discriminative brief remark, however discrimination is not condoned by the episode as a whole.
drugs
A man describes turning to drugs, which led him to be arrested.
additional issues
References are made to mental health issues including depression which people have suffered in the past.
sexual violence references
Classified Date:
03/01/2024
Use:
VOD/Streaming
sexual violence and sexual threat
During an audition for a film, a woman is asked to act out being raped by her father in law. It is stated that the man has forced himself on her character a number of times previously. Although the visuals are discreet, her terrified screams can be heard and it is also implied that she is not entirely comfortable with the scene.
additional issues
A young woman performs a comedy sketch about her mother forcing her to dress provocatively in order to entice a suitor; she subsequently says she found the sketch abusive. Child actors, rehearsing a scene, pick up a gun and threaten to shoot someone off screen. In another audition, we find out that the role on offer is of an abused child and the child actor tells a woman, within the scene, that his father gets drunk and beats him.
references to discrimination
Classified Date:
03/01/2024
Use:
VOD/Streaming
discrimination
A child actor talks about her concerns over her fluctuating weight, eating habits and that she is offered what she calls 'fat girl roles'.
additional issues
A teenage girl who has worked as a child actor talks about the emotional upset of missing out on roles and the financial pressures faced by her family. There is undetailed sight of dead birds on the floor of an empty flat. Families fear they are being taken advantage of by scammers trying to get them to pay for their children's acting auditions.
Director(s)Deepa Bhatia
Production year2023
Genre(s)Documentary, Drama
Approx. running minutes29m
CastAdrija Sinha, Ronnish Maini, Ekta Methai
Classified Date:
21/12/2023
Use:
VOD/Streaming
Distributor:
Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
Classified date03/01/2024
LanguageHindi
