Government party politicians are calling for the show to be suppressed, saying it was “deliberately mocking the Hindu gods”.
The cast and crew of a popular streaming series starring Saif Ali Khan, the protagonist of Bollywood, have apologized after government party politicians considered the show insensitive to Hindus.
Amazon Prime drama Tandav, compared to the U.S. House of Cards series, drew criticism from members of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after its release on Friday.
Several BJP politicians called for the program to be withdrawn, saying it “deliberately mocked Hindu gods” and did not respect religious sentiments.
One of the criticized scenes depicts a university play in which the Hindu god Shiva speaks of “aazadi” (freedom), a cry from last year’s anti-government protests in the capital.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting told the cast and crew that they received “a large number of complaints and requests … with serious concerns and apprehensions” about the series, director Ali Abbas Zafar wrote on Monday in a post to Instagram and Twitter.
“Tandav is a work of fiction and any resemblance to acts, people and events is purely coincidental,” he added in a statement.
“The cast and crew of ‘Tandav’ … apologize unconditionally if they have unintentionally harmed someone’s feelings.”
Our sincere apologies. pic.twitter.com/Efr9s0kYnl
– ali abbas zafar (@aliabbaszafar) January 18, 2021
The Hindustan Times reported that police were deposited on Sunday in the middle of Mumbai’s Khan home outside Khan’s home.
Major streaming platforms, including Netflix, Amazon and Disney’s Hotstar, have expanded their country presence by 1.3 billion, including the local content commission.
Streaming television services are not subject to the country’s strict censorship rules, which regularly result in cropped scenes from shows and movies.
But there have been growing calls, especially from BJP politicians, for online programs to be subject to the same scrutiny.
The most recent controversy involved the BBC’s television version of author Vikram Seth’s best-selling epic novel, A Suitable Child, airing on Netflix, in a scene in which a Hindu girl kisses a Muslim boy in front of a Hindu temple.
A BJP state politician filed a complaint with police saying the program had harmed the religious feelings of Hindus.