I&B Ministry summons Amazon India officials over controversy around web series 'Tandav'

Amid the controversy circling Amazon India's web series 'Tandav', Union Information & Broadcasting Ministry on Sunday, has summoned the company's officials. Tandav - which premiered on January 15 has run into trouble after the BJP claimed that few scenes are hurting religious sentiments. BJP MLA Ram Kadam has lodged an official complaint with the Mumbai police seeking a ban on the show.

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I&B ministry pulls up Amazon over 'Tandav' 

BJP leader Ram Kadam calls for boycott of 'Tandav' over joke allegedly hurting sentiments

What was the offense by Tandav?

 A scene in the web series where Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub’s character apparently playing Lord Shiva amid talk on ‘social media followers of Lord Ram’ sparked boycott calls for the web series. On Sunday Ram Kadam tweeted, “Why is it that every time Hindu Gods and Goddesses are made fun of in films and web series. The latest example is of Tandav web series.” He later followed it by filing a complaint at the BKC police station.

"Actor Zeeshan Ayyub will have to apologise. Till the changes are made, Tandav will be boycotted,’ wrote Kadam alongside visuals of the scene and characters in the series. #BanTandavNow & #BoycottTandav has been widely circulated on the internet. Tandav has also got poor reviews online with viewers claiming it 'cannot be taken seriously'. Several users attacked its IMDb rating by giving it one star.

'Tandav' Review: A dumbed down scrapbook on Indian Politics that cannot be taken seriously

Tandav's Controversial scene

In the scene set in a college theatre festival, Ayyub reportedly enacts Lord Shiva with a Trishul in his hand. The host of the act then says ‘Ram ji followers are increasing day by day’ so they also needed to do something, like post new pictures. This was followed by controversial chants of ‘Azaadi', as popularised by Kanhaiya Kumar and others.

Tandav stars Saif Ali Khan, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub Sunil Grover, Dimple Kapadia, Kritika Kamra, Shonali Nagrani, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Sarah Jane Dias, Dino Morea, Gauahar Khan, among others. Nine episodes of the web series have been released together on Amazon Prime on January 15. The series is a political power thriller that revolves around the senior members of the JLD party vying for the PM seat after the sudden demise of PM Devki Nandan- with his son (Samar) the prime PM face. The nation expects the son to take over the father's legacy, but things go wrong for a calculative Samar. 

'Boycott Tandav' trends; netizens attack IMDb rating as scene in series 'hurts sentiments'