Ruling politicians say the show should be removed, saying they are “deliberately mocking Hindu gods”.
The cast and crew of a popular streaming series featuring Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan have apologized after ruling party politicians called the program insensitive to Hindus.
The Amazon Prime drama Tandav – loosely compared to the United States’ House of Cards series – drew criticism from members of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after its release on Friday.
Several BJP politicians have called for the show to be removed, saying they have “deliberately mocked Hindu gods” and contempt for religious sentiments.
One of the critical scenes depicts a play in which the Hindu god Shiva talks about ‘aazadi’ (freedom), a rally of last year’s protest against the government in the capital.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has told the cast and crew that it has received a large number of grievances and petitions “with serious concerns and concerns” about the series, director Ali Abbas Zafar said in a post on Instagram on Monday. and Twitter written.
“Tandav is a fiction and any resemblance to acts and persons and events is merely coincidental,” he added in a statement.
“The cast and crew of ‘Tandav’ … unconditionally apologize if it unintentionally harmed someone’s actions. ‘
Our sincere apologies. pic.twitter.com/Efr9s0kYnl
– Ali Abbas Zafar (@aliabbaszafar) 18 January 2021
Police on Sunday amid the row outside Khan’s house seen in Mumbai, the newspaper Hindustan Times.
Leading streaming platforms, including Netflix, Amazon and Disney’s Hotstar, have expanded their presence in the country by $ 1.3 billion, including through the deployment of local content.
The streaming TV services are not subject to the strict censorship rules of the country, which often leads to scenes cut out of programs and movies.
But there have been increasing calls, especially from BJP politicians, that the online programs should be subjected to the same scrutiny.
The most recent controversy involves the BBC version of author Vikram Seth’s epic best-selling novel, A Suitable Boy, which streams on Netflix, about a scene where a Hindu girl kisses a Muslim boy in front of a Hindu temple.
A BJP political politician lodged a complaint with the police in November, saying the show had harmed Hindus’ religious sentiments.