The cast and crew of Amazon Prime show Tandav have offered an “unconditional apology” after the political drama was accused of hurting Hindu sentiments. The official apology was tweeted by the creator of the show Ali Abbas Zafar.
“Our sincere apologies,” read the statement. “We have been closely monitoring viewer reactions to the web series Tandav and today during a discussion, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has informed us regarding a large number of grievances and petitions received on various facets of the web series with serious concerns and apprehensions regarding its content hurting the sentiments of the people.”
“Tandav is a work of fiction and any resemblance to acts and persons and events is purely coincidental. 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 cognizance of the concerns expressed by the people and unconditionally apologise if it has unintentionally hurt anybody’s sentiments,” it added.
In a follow-up tweet, Zafar said: “We just want to share a quick update with everybody. We are in further engagement with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to resolve concerns that have been raised.”
He added that they “should have a solution shortly”.
Directed by Zafar, the political drama stars Saif Ali Khan, Sunil Grover, Dimple Kapadia, Sarah-Jane Dias, Gauahar Khan, Kritika Kamra, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, and Dino Morea in lead roles.
Khan and the makers of Tandav have been at the receiving end of backlash and outrage after a local official from India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party registered a police complaint against Amazon Prime’s latest web series alleging it insults Hindu gods and goddesses.
Following the outrage and backlash, Saif was given police security. A set of policemen were seen guarding his building to ensure all the safety required to the star and his family.
Meanwhile, Kangana Ranaut has been having a field day on Twitter, lashing out at the actors and web series and demanding strict action against them.
In a now-deleted tweet, Ranaut even said: “Because even Lord Krishna forgave 99 mistakes of Sheshupala…. pehle Shanti phir Kranti (First calm, then revolution)…. time to take their heads off.”
