Scenes snipped from Tandav, but trouble continues with more complaints

At least two scenes were removed from the controversial web series Tandav which found itself in more trouble on Wednesday with fresh FIRs against its makers and cast in Madhya Pradesh and MaharashtraIn a sliver of hope the Bombay High Court granted transit prearrest bail to director Ali Abbas Zafar Amazon Prime India head Aparna Purohit producer Himanshu Mehra and the shows writer Gaurav Solanki The relief was granted for three weeks to enable them to approach the concerned court in Lucknow where an FIR has been registered against them for allegedly hurting religious sentimentsA scene of a play and a conversation between two key characters were snipped from the shows first episode Tanashah a day after the cast and crew of the ninepart starry political saga on Amazon Prime Video once again apologised and said they had decided to implement changes to address the concerns raisedAt the centre of the row over the show which has hit national headlines with calls for boycotts FIRs and protests over its alleged depiction of Hindu deities was a scene with Zeeshan Ayyub in the role of college student Shiva playing the Hindu god Mahadeva another name for Lord Shiva in a play A conversation between Lord Shiva and Narad Muni in the theatre production raised hacklesThat scene has gone Viewers now see Zeeshans entry on stage as Mahadev amid cheers from the audience and the scene then abruptly shifts to police entering the campus to arrest a studentAlso gone is a conversation depicting the character of prime minister Devki Nandan Singh played by Tigmanshu Dhulia insulting Dalit leader Kailash Kumar enacted by Anup Soni There have been other changes in the series as well A dialogue referencing caste between Sonis character and Sandhya Mriduls Sandhya has been shortenedNotwithstanding the cuts the show directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and starring Bollywood Alisters Saif Ali Khan Dimple Kapadia and Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub sank into more troubleMumbai Police registered an FIR against the makers and cast based on a complaint lodged by BJP MLA Ram Kadam It named the actors including Saif and Zeeshan as well as the director producer writer Amazons Purohit and Amazon India head Amit Agarwal an official saidBJPs Ghatkopar MLA Ram Kadam had earlier submitted a written complaint against the web series alleging that it hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus He also took out a morcha at Amazons web head office in BKC the police official saidEarlier in the day Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said police in the state had received a complaint and formal action would be taken in accordance with the lawHe also demanded a law from the Centre to regulate content on over the top OTT platforms to ensure there is no castebased discrimination or communal divideA fourmember team of Uttar Pradesh Police where three FIRs have been filed arrived in Mumbai in the morning to conduct a probe into the case registered in LucknowThe team is likely to record statements of the makers and cast and crew of the show While some members visited the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police Detection1 in suburban Andheri two members went to the Mumbai Police headquarters in south Mumbai officials saidKeeping up the tempo an FIR against the makers and cast was also registered in the Madhya Pradesh town of Jabalpur on a complaint from a functionary of a little known Hindutva outfitThe process to verify the facts mentioned in the FIR filed against the director of web series Tandav and others for allegedly promoting enmity in different religious groups and hurting religious feelings is on Jabalpurs Additional Superintendent of Police ASP Amit Kumar told reportersIn a related development Madhya Pradesh Assembly protem Speaker Rameshwar Sharma wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray demanding an FIR on the complaint filed by BJP MLA Kadam and asking him to take forward the legacy of Bal ThackerayBJP leader Vjiay Goel and his supporters raised slogans against Tandav in the national capitalIn Uttar Pradesh FIRs against the show have been filed in Lucknow Greater Noida and Shahjahanpur The complainants have alleged inappropriate depiction of UP Police personnel Hindu deities and adverse portrayal of a character playing prime minister in the political dramaOn Monday Chief Minister Yogi Adityanaths media advisor Shalabhmani Tripathi said the makers of Tandav will have to pay the price for hurting religious sentimentsIn a statement on behalf of the cast and crew of the series the makers on Monday had apologised if they had unintentionally hurt anyones sentiments with their fictional show They followed it up on Tuesday with another apology statement thanking the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for its guidance amp support in the matterThe cast amp crew of Tandav have made the decision to implement changes to the web series to address the concerns raised towards the same the team saidThe makers said they had utmost respect for the sentiments of the people and did not intend to hurt or 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 deadWhile many political leaders particularly from the BJP have spoken out mainstream showbiz personalities have largely been silent barring director Hansal Mehta and actor Swara BhaskerIm a Hindu and Im not offended by any scene in Tandav Why banTandavSeries BanTandavNow Bhasker tweeted on TuesdayTandav which premiered on the streaming platform last Friday is not the first and certainly not the last show on streaming platforms a booming market in India to land in a soup for one reason or anotherMost recently Netflix show A Suitable Boy based on Vikram Seths bestselling novel attracted the ire of the right wing for a scene showing a Muslim man and a Hindu girl kissing in the backdrop of a templeBefore that was Amazons Pataal Lok that got into trouble for its depiction of communal issues and Leila which was called anti Hindu for depicting the dystopian future of Aryavarta where purity of blood is enforcedThe government recently brought OTT platforms such as Netflix Amazon Prime Video and Disney Hotstar 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 spaceThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever