Lucknow/Mumbai:
The makers of Tandav, a Hindi language political show now streaming on Amazon Prime, will face tough legal action for hurting Hindu sentiments, the Uttar Pradesh government has said. Multiple police cases have been filed against the series in the state and in Madhya Pradesh.
“The producer, director, and artistes of web series Tandav have committed the crime of spoiling social harmony and unity and hurting Hindu religious sentiments. Tough legal action will be taken,” Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said today in a tweet.
A team of four police personnel had left for Mumbai for investigation following the registration of a case at Hazratganj Police Station in Lucknow against the makers of web series and an officer of OTT platform Amazon Prime, ANI reported on Wednesday.
On Monday, the cast and crew of Tandav issued an “unconditional” apology, saying they did not intend to offend religious beliefs or sentiments. They also referred to parts of a disclaimer that is an industry standard and said the web series was a “work of fiction” and that “any resemblance to acts and persons and events is purely coincidental”. The apology followed the Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s seeking of a response from Amazon Prime.
By Tuesday, the Tandav team was willing to make changes in the content “to address concerns”.
The web series, directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, stars Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia, and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, and was released on Friday. It quickly triggered protests and drew criticism on social media. Multiple cases have been filed against the series in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.