Highlights:
- A sub-inspector with UP police has filed a case against creators of Tandav for “promoting enmity on grounds of religion”
- FIR against director of the ‘Tandav’ web series Ali Abbas Zafar, its creator Himanshu Krishna Mehra, writer Gaurav Solanki and others for allegedly hurting religious sentiments
- Amazon Prime’s India head of original content Aparna Purohit was also named in the FIR
The latest web series of Amazon Prime “Tandav”, faces criminal action with the police of Uttar Pradesh filing a complaint against the creators and the streaming service Amazon Prime over alleged insult to Hindu gods and threat of arrests by a top aide.
The case was filed hours after Amazon Prime reportedly were summoned by the centre’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on a complaint filed by Maharashtra BJP MLA Ram Kadam.
In the case of promoting religious enmity and defiling a place of worship, the director, producer and writer of the Saif Ali Khan-Dimple Kapadia starring “Tandav” and Amazon’s head of India Original Content were accused.
The complaint has been lodged by a sub-inspector at Lucknow’s Hazratganj police station who is also posted there.
The media advisor to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Shalabh Mani Tripathi, posted a copy of it on Twitter shortly after the case was reported.
Shalabh Mani Tripathi, wrote in Hindi, “There is no tolerance for playing with people’s sentiments in Yogi Adityanath’s Uttar Pradesh. A serious case has been registered against the entire team of Tandav, which is spreading hate in the guise of cheap web series. Prepare for arrest.”
जन भावनाओं के साथ खिलवाड़ बर्दाश्त नहीं, घटिया वेब सीरीज की आड़ मं नफरत फैलाने वाली वेब सीरीज तांडव की पूरी टीम के खिलाफ योगीजी के उत्तर प्रदेश में गंभीर धाराओं में मामला दर्ज, जल्द गिरफ्तारी की तैयारी !! pic.twitter.com/V9ZewGNOHw
— Shalabh Mani Tripathi (@shalabhmani) January 18, 2021
After alerting senior officers about various Twitter comments critical of Tandav’s content, the policeman said he filed the complaint and was ordered to watch it.
The complaint notes that 17 minutes into the first episode “people dressed up in a very bad manner to represent Hindu gods and goddesses and have been shown to speak in a very uncalled for language… that hurts religious sentiments.”
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The complaint reads, in the same episode there are “conversations that lead to caste conflict, there are similar scenes in many other episodes. In the web series, “Tandav” the character of the person occupying the high post of PM of India has been shown in a very indecent manner… The series depicts lower and higher castes and scenes that are offensive for women, and the intent… seems to be to hurt religious sentiments of one community and to spread conflict.”
The case in Uttar Pradesh was filed hours after Amazon Prime reportedly summoned by the center’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to a complaint filed by Maharashtra BJP MLA Ram Kadam.
