Tandav Controversy: UP Govt Warns Of Tough Action; Dy CM Says 'Makers Committed Crime By Hurting Hindu Sentiments'

Taking to his twitter account, UP Deputy Chief Minisiter KP Maurya said the makers of Tandav, including the producer, director and actors are culprits of breaking the social fabric and hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus.

Stills from Tandav, web series on Amazon Prime India

Tandav controversy: There is more trouble brewing up for actors and makers of Amazon Prime's web series ‘Tandav’, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on social media said that strict legal action will be taken against them for hurting the Hindu sentiments.

Taking to his twitter account, Maurya said the makers of Tandav, including the producer, director and actors are culprits of breaking the social fabric and hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus. He added that tough legal action will be taken against them.

The reaction of the minister comes amid the director of the series and filmmaker Ali Abbas Zafar apologising through an official statement. In fact, the cast and crew of ‘Tandav’ also said they are ready to address the concerns and do the needed changes in the web series. In a statement, the show’s team said, "The cast & crew of Tandav have made the decision to implement changes to the web series to address the concerns raised towards the same".

"We 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 dead... We once again apologise if the series has unintentionally hurt anybody's sentiments," the statement read.

Meanwhile, three FIRs have been registered against makers and artists of Amazon Prime's web series in Uttar Pradesh. 

Among the latest one is the FIR filed in Greater Noida. It has accused Zafar, Amazon Prime's India head Aparna Purohit, producer Himanshu Kishan Mehra, writer Gaurav Solanki and actors Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia and Sunil Grover.

‘Tandav’ is a nine-episode political thriller starring Bollywood actors Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia and Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub.

UP Chief MInsiter Yogi Adityanath's media advisor Shalabh Mani Tripathi confirmed that a team of UP police officials have been dispatched to Mumbai with copies of FIRs.

Meanwhile reports suggest that Mumbai Police is also likely to file an FIR in the matter taking cognisance of BJP MLA Ram Kadam's complaint. The pressure to register an FIR has also risen after a team of UP Police arrived in Mumbai to interrogate the case. 

For the uninitiated, the whole controversy is around a scene of the very first episode of ‘Tandav’ in which actor Mohammad Zeeshan Ayub is seen disguised as Lord Shiva. While addressing the students of the university, he says that from whom do you want freedom? As soon as they come to the stage, a stage operator says, 'Narayan-Narayan. God do something. Ramji's followers are constantly increasing on social media.