Politicians from the ruling party call for the show to be removed, saying he was “deliberately mocking the Hindu gods”.
The cast and crew of a popular streaming series starring Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan apologized after politicians at the ruling party found the program insensitive to Hindus.
The Amazon Prime Tandav drama – vaguely compared to the United States’ House of Cards series – drew criticism from members of the Hindu-nationalist Party Bharatiya Janata (BJP) after its release on Friday.
Several BJP politicians asked for the program to be removed, saying it was “deliberately mocking the Hindu gods” and disrespecting religious feelings.
One of the criticized scenes depicts a university play in which the Hindu god Shiva talks about “aazadi” (freedom), a rallying cry from last year’s anti-government protests in the capital.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting told the cast and crew that it received “a large number of complaints and petitions … with serious concerns and apprehensions” about the series, director Ali Abbas Zafar wrote in a post on Instagram and Twitter on Monday -market.
“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 it involuntarily hurt someone’s feelings.”
Our sincere apologies. pic.twitter.com/Efr9s0kYnl
– ali abbas zafar (@aliabbaszafar) January 18, 2021
Police were seen parked in front of Khan’s Mumbai home on Sunday amid fighting, the Hindustan Times reported.
Major streaming platforms, including Netflix, Amazon and Disney’s Hotstar, have expanded their presence in the country to 1.3 billion, including commissioning of local content.
Streaming TV services are not subject to the country’s strict censorship rules, which typically result in cut scenes for programs and films.
But there have been growing calls, especially from BJP politicians, for online programs to be subject to the same scrutiny.
The latest controversy involved the BBC TV version of author Vikram Seth’s epic best-selling novel, A Suitable Boy, which is being streamed on Netflix, about a scene in which a Hindu girl kisses a Muslim boy in front of a Hindu temple.
A BJP state politician in November filed a complaint with the police saying the program had hurt the religious feelings of Hindus.