The sixth episode of the web series Love Storiyaan has led to bans in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Indonesia, and Egypt. The series, which was created by Somen Mishra and has six directors, delves into the love stories of six real-life couples and made its OTT debut on Prime Video on Valentine's Day. The contentious episode centers on Kolkata-based transgender couple Tista Das and Dipan Chakraborty, who fell in love while undergoing gender transition surgery.

Why did Love Beyond Labels get banned in the Middle East?

The sixth episode of Love Storiyaan titled Love Beyond Labels narrates the tale of Das and Chakraborty, the first married trans couple in West Bengal. Transgender rights activist Das had a sex change procedure to accept her femininity, and Chakraborty had surgery to change from a woman to a man.

The couple, who were introduced by Das's organization, tied the knot in 2019 beginning an important new chapter in their relationship. As per Pinkvilla, The prohibition of this episode in Middle Eastern nations is said to be related to LGBTQAI+ people's "limited or highly restrictive rights."

Sex between men is prohibited in nine of the eighteen countries, five of which have capital punishment laws. Different Middle Eastern countries have different levels of tolerance and legal protections for people who identify as transgender.

More about Love Storiyaan

The stories featured in Love Storiyaan take inspiration from tales on India Love Project, which was started by former journalists Priya Ramani, Samar Halarnkar, and Niloufer Venkatraman. Six directors have overseen the six episodes of the series: Vivek Soni, Hardik Mehta, Collin D'Cunha, Shazia Iqbal, Akshay Indikar, and Archana Phadke.