Tandav Row: Makers Agree To Changes Following FIR For 'Hurting Religious Sentiments'

The makers of Tandav confirmed that they have decided to drop certain scenes from the Amazon Prime web-series following legal trouble that stirred controversy earlier this week. In a statement, the makers thanked the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Tuesday for its “guidance” on the issue.

Earlier this week, an FIR was filed against the makers in Uttar Pradesh for "hurting religious sentiments." The FIR, which was filed at Lucknow’s Hazratganj police station, stated that the first episode of the show has “conversations that lead to caste conflict, there are similar scenes in many other episodes. In the web series, the character of the person occupying the high post of India’s Prime Minister has been shown in a very indecent manner.” The complaint also claimed that some scenes from the show are insulting to women, and that its intent seems to be to “hurt religious feelings of one community and to spread conflict.”

The FIR named Prime’s India head of original content Aparna Purohit, apart from the show’s director Ali Abbas Zafar, producer Himanshu Krishna Mehra and writer Gaurav Solanki among others. Further on Sunday the I& B Ministry sought an explanation from Amazon Prime.

Further extending apologies, the show’s director, Ali Abbas Zafar tweeted on Tuesday evening saying that they will make the necessary changes to “address the concerns raised”. He stated, "We thank the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for the guidance & support in the matter. We once again apologise if the series has unintentionally hurt anybody’s sentiments.”

He further said that the whole crew has "utmost respect for the sentiments of the people of our country." Sharing that they never intended to hurt or offend any individual or caste, Zafar had said on Monday that Tandav was “a work of fiction” and that they “unconditionally apologise if it has unintentionally hurt anybody’s sentiments”.