INTRODUCTION
A political based series named TANDAV which recently released on the OTT platform(Amazon
Prime Video) entered into a legal battle as it was alleged to have hurt religious sentiments and
beliefs of the devotees of Hindu Gods.
An FIR was lodged against the director named Ali Abbas Jafar and writer named Gaurav Solanki
The FIR was lodged at Hazratganj police station against the head of original content; Aparna
Purohit, producer Himanshu Krishna Mehra and another undisclosed person of Amazon Prime
India.
The makers of the series Tandav were charged under Sections 153-A, 295, 505(1)(b), 505(2) and
469 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 and under Sections 66, 66F and 67 of Information Technology
Act, 2000.
The charges were made under section 295A of the Indian Penal Code for promotion of enmity
between different religious groups, race, place of birth,which are against the constitutional
provisions the charges under Section 295 of the Indian penal code also included causing
destruction , damage, or defilement of a place of worship or an object which is held to be sacred
by religious followers. The charges further elaborates about forgery for the purpose of harming
reputation, statements that could bring public mischief, intent to threaten the unity, integrity,
security or sovereignty of India,which is against the constitutional provisions as laid down under
article 19 (2) of Constitution of India.
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry had summoned Amazon Prime Video officials in
India with respect to the controversy around the web series.
A BJP leader named Ram Kadam has suggested to the Union Minister Prakash Javadekar
regarding the controversy around the web series and to bring Over the Top platforms under the
censorship of Central Board of Film Certification as OTT platforms were causing harm to
religious sentiments of the people by showcasing such scenes in the web series.
Scenes that are alleged to be controversial in the web series :
Scene 1 from Episode 1: The actor Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub who plays the role of Lord Shiva
in his college play doesn't match the traditional outlook of the Hindu deity but looks innovative.
He is seen wearing a suit and carries a Treeshul in one hand and applied blue paint on his face
and neck. Shiva discusses about getting fewer followers on social media in comparison to Lord
Ram and asked the audience as to what is to be done to increase followers. Narad Muni who is
another mythological figure advised him to tweet something that would create a sensation to get
more followers on Twitter and adviced him to talk about how the students at university are
chanting 'azaadi azaadi' these days.
The scene explained about how students were discussing about getting freedom from feudalism,
poverty and caste-based discrimination in their own country but they were being misunderstood.
The dialogue at end of the scene "Matlab desh se azaadi nahi chahiye, desh me rehte hue azaadi
chahye" said by Shiva made the Hindu devotees furious.
Scene 2 from Episode 8:
The actor Sandhya Mridul in the series tells her boyfriend who is now the father of her child and
a Dalit political leader Kailash Kumar played by actor Anup Soni, that her ex-husband once told
her something that she thought was nonsensical. She quoted Jigar played by actor Dino Morea
and said that when a Dalit man gets into a relationship with a woman from an upper caste, he
plans on taking a revenge for the discrimination that he has suffered as well as his community
have suffered over a period of time.
The dialogue; "Usne kaha thi ki jab ek chhoti jaat ka aadmi ek unchi jaat ki aurat ko date karta
hai, toh sirf badla lene ke liye... sadiyon ke atyacharon ka, us ek aurat se."
The dialogue portrays the woman's resentment when she is made aware that she's pregnant with
Kailash's child who misleads her about taking a divorce from his wife before having a
relationship with her.
Webseries maker point of view:
The disclaimer given in the beginning of the movie films help the filmmakers to express their
thoughts without the fear of being attacked by people who are against such thoughts expressed
by the film makers and the script writers in the film similarly web series have adopted such
disclaimers in order to make it clear that the views which are expressed in the web series are
fictional in nature and have no relevance to the real life persons.
The producers, scriptwriters, artists play their role in a web series to entertain the public and have
no intention to hurt any religious sentiments of any caste, creed or race. The filmmakers have no
intention to hurt such sentiments or else a muslim actor would not play a role of a hindu deity.
Conclusion :
The makers of the web series ‘TANDAV” on Amazon Prime Video issued an apology on 18th of
January after complaints to police in Maharashtra and UP government alleged some scenes for
insulting Hindu gods and goddesses. They stated and clarified that any offence was unintentional
and the series was "a work of fiction and any resemblance to acts,persons and events were purely
coincidental". The UP Chief Minister's office was seen to be giving a warning and renewed calls
to regulate OTT content.
Tandav' web series is not among the web series on an OTT platform to face controversy . In the
past shows like Leila, Paatal Lok , A Suitable Boy and Sacred games had run into controversy
for scenes which were deemed insulting and against laws prevailing in the country.Several
complaints were filed against Sacred Games for insulting Rajiv Gandhi and it also came under
the scanner for hurting sentiments of Sikhs, another Netflix series, Leila was called anti-Hindu
for the depiction of dystopian 'Aryavarta'.
The Bombay High Court had granted transit anticipatory bail to Tandav web series director Ali Abbas
Zafar, producer Himanshu Mehra, Amazon content head Aparna Purohit and writer Gaurav Solanki
enabling them to seek regular pre-arrest bail from Uttar Pradesh.
The three-week anticipatory transit bail was granted by Justice PD Naik days after the Hazratganj Police
in UP booked under several sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act for
allegedly portraying Hindu gods in a bad light in the web series 'Tandav', which released on streaming
platform Amazon prime.
In fact the UP Police had reached Mumbai to investigate the case. Senior advocate Aabad Ponda and
Advocate Aniket Nikam have argued that their clients were wrongfully implicated in the present FIR
without any role being assigned to them independently and therefore they should be granted four
weeks of transit pre-arrest bail.
They were booked under Sections 153-A, 295, 505(1)(b), 505(2) and 469 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 and
under Sections 66, 66F and 67 of Information Techology Act, 2000, however none of the sections in the
FIR actually apply to them.
Senior official of Amazon was represented by Mr. Fali Nariman and Mr. Mukul Rohatgi, Senior Advocates
and briefed by a team comprising of Sai Krishna.
The series Paatal Lok was questioned for its treatment of communal issues. Recently the makers
of Mirzapur series were served notice for showcasing Uttar Pradesh in bad light. Complaints had
been filed against Netflix series, A Suitable Boy for a scene that involved kissing on temple
premises which made a grave impact on Indian culture and Indian society
The government has recently brought OTT platforms, besides other online news and current
affairs content, under the ambit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, giving it
powers to regulate policies and rules for the digital space.
