Politicians from the ruling party are calling for the show to be removed, saying it is ‘deliberately making fun of Hindu gods’.
The cast and crew of a popular streaming series starring Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan have apologized after politicians from the ruling party called the show insensitive to Hindus.
The Amazon Prime drama Tandav – loosely compared to the United States’ House of Cards series – received criticism from members of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after Friday’s release.
Several BJP politicians called for the show to be removed, saying it was “deliberately mocking Hindu gods” and disrespecting religious sentiments.
One of the criticized scenes features a university play in which the Hindu god Shiva speaks of ‘aazadi’ (freedom), a rallying cry from last year’s anti-government protests in the capital.
The Department of Information and Broadcasting told the cast and crew that it received “a large number of complaints and petitions … with serious concerns and fears” about the series, director Ali Abbas Zafar wrote in a post on Instagram and Twitter on Monday.
“Tandav is a fictional work and any resemblance to acts and persons and events is purely coincidental,” he added in a statement.
“The cast and crew of ‘Tandav’ … apologize unconditionally if it has inadvertently hurt someone’s feelings.”
Our sincere apologies. pic.twitter.com/Efr9s0kYnl
– ali abbas zafar (@aliabbaszafar) January 18, 2021
Police were seen stationed outside Khan’s Mumbai home on Sunday amid the feud, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported.
Leading streaming platforms, including Netflix, Amazon and Disney’s Hotstar, have expanded their presence in the country to 1.3 billion, including by deploying local content.
The streaming TV services are not subject to the country’s strict censorship rules, which regularly result in scenes cut from shows and movies.
But there are more and more calls, especially from BJP politicians, for the online shows to be subject to the same scrutiny.
The most recent controversy involved the BBC’s TV version of author Vikram Seth’s epic bestseller, A Suitable Boy, which is streamed on Netflix, about a scene in which a Hindu girl kisses a Muslim boy in front of a Hindu temple.
A state BJP politician filed a complaint with police in November, saying the show had harmed Hindus’ religious sentiments.