COURTESY HT J AN 19
Tandav makers apologise as clamour for ban grows
HT Correspondents
letters@hindustantimes.com
New Delhi : Makers of web series Tandav, who are facing police action, issued an unconditional apology on Monday and said they did not intend to offend sentiments of any caste, community or religion — a statement that came in the backdrop of growing criticism by a section of politicians, including those from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who argued that the drama streaming on Amazon Prime Video depicted Hindu gods in a bad light.
The statement by the makers also said the information and broadcasting ministry (I&B) told them about “a large number of grievances and petitions received on various facets of the web series”. “The cast and crew did not have any intention to offend the sentiments of any individual, caste, community, race, religion or religious beliefs or insult or outrage any institution, political party or person, living or dead. The cast and crew of Tandav take cognisance of the concerns expressed by the people and unconditionally apologise if it has unintentionally hurt anybody’s sentiments,” it said.
Amidst threats and boycott calls, security was stepped up outside the head office of Amazon and at the office of actor Saif Ali Khan, who starred in the show, police officials told news agency PTI. The apology came even as objections to the nine-episode drama culminated in a section of watchers and some politicians joining the chorus to ban or boycott the show, once again bringing to the fore the larger question of whether there was a need to regulate over the top (OTT) streaming services such as Amazon Prime, Netflix and Hotstar, among others.
Last year, the government brought OTT platforms as well as other online news and current affairs under the ambit of the I&B ministry, triggering concerns among critics who feared a censorship of these platforms.
The I&B ministry, along with the content providers, has been trying to evolve a code for regulation in view of a plethora of complaints related to shows on streaming services. The I&B has so far favoured a self-regulatory mechanism for these bodies.
Late on Sunday, police in Lucknow registered an FIR against Aparna Purohit, Amazon’s India head for original content, series director Ali Abbas, producer Himanshu Krishna Mehra, writer Gaurav Solanki, and an unknown person on charges of promoting enmity between different groups and insulting a religion, among others.
“A four-member police team is investigating the matter and action will be taken against the accused if the complaint is found to be true,” Lucknow deputy commissioner of police (central) Somen Barma said on the FIR.
According to the FIR, the web series allegedly presented Hindu gods in an “undignified manner” and showed them using language hurtful to religious sentiments. It also alleged that dialogues in the series can incite caste anger. It was lodged under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language), 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), 505 (1) (B) (statements conducing to public mischief with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquillity) and 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation) of the Indian Penal Code along with sections of the Information and Technology Act.