Sanchita
The controversy around Saif Ali Khan’s ‘Tandav’ web series on Amazon Prime thickens day by day.
Helmed by Ali Abbas Zafar and written by Gaurav Solanki (of Article 15 fame), the show has been facing legal trouble over allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
Multiple criminal cases were filed against the makers and actors in multiple states as the controversy grew heated. Director Ali Abbas Zafar had issued an official apology statement and the makers had even cut out two controversial sequences from the show — one featuring Zeeshan’s character as Lord Shiva and another where Tigmanshu Dhulia’s PM character hurls insults at Anup Soni’s Kailash using casteist language.
(It is to be noted that the government recently brought even OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ Hotstar under the ambit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, giving it powers to regulate policies and rules for the online space)
However, even after the changes, the troubles against the show have not relented. Actor Zeeshan Ayyub, director Ali Abbas Zafar, writer Gaurav Solanki, Amazon Creative Head Aparna Purohit and the maker of the series Himanshu Kishan Mehra had then moved the Supreme Court asking for a freeze on possible arrest. But on Wednesday, the Supreme Court declined them interim protection against arrest! They have been asked to take up the issue in related high courts where complaints have been filed against them.
The Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, RS Reddy and MR Shah announced the decision and said, “Your right to freedom of speech is not absolute. You cannot play the role of a character that hurts the sentiments of a community.”
“We cannot use the power under Section 482 CrPC. We are not inclined to grant interim protection,” said the Bench further.
When Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub’s lawyer argued that he was just an actor under contract and that the statements made by his character could not be attributed to him, Justice MR Shah said, “You accepted the contract after reading the script. You cannot hurt religious sentiments.”
Actress Konkona Sen Sharma had a heated reaction to this development:
Tandav is a nine-episode series revolving around power and politics. Apart from Saif Ali Khan, the show also stars Gauhar Khan, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Sunil Grover, Kritika Kamra, Sarah Jane Dias, Kumud Mishra, Dino Morea and Amyra Dastur, among others.
What do you think of this whole controversy?
