Amazon Prime Video has issued an apology over certain scenes in the Saif Ali Khan-starrer series Tandav, which was in the eye of controversy for hurting religious sentiments. In a statement, Amazon Prime Video said that it “deeply regrets” that viewers found certain scenes “objectionable” in the series.
“This was never our intention, and the scenes that were objected to were removed or edited when they were brought to our attention. We respect our viewers’ diverse beliefs and apologize unconditionally to anyone who felt hurt by these scenes,” Amazon Prime Video said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Our teams follow company content evaluation processes, which we acknowledge need to be constantly updated to better serve our audiences. We will continue to develop entertaining content with partners, while complying with the laws of India and respecting the diversity of culture and beliefs of our audiences,” it added.
This appears to be the first apology Amazon Prime has issued in India.
Earlier in January, the makers of Tandav had apologised for hurting religious sentiments as well, and had said they will snip the ‘objectionable’ portions from the last two scenes in the web series. The changes were made after two FIRs (first information reports) were registered in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh against the makers. Before this, in Lucknow, a case had been registered against Amazon Prime Video's India head of original content, Aparna Purohit, and the director of the series Ali Abbas Zafar, producer Himanshu Krishna Mehra and writer Gaurav Solanki in the same vein.
The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had also sought an explanation from Amazon Prime Video after taking cognizance of complaints that Hindu gods and goddesses have apparently been ridiculed in web series Tandav.
The main two scenes — a play and a conversation — were part of the first episode, titled 'Tanashah'.
One of the scenes that was removed from the series featured actor Zeeshan Ayyub, who plays the role of a college student named Shiva. Shiva is part of a play, playing the Hindu god Mahadeva (another name for lord Shiva). A conversation between Shiva and Narad Muni in the theatre production did not sit well with certain Hindu groups. The revised scene starts with Zeeshan’s entry on stage as Mahadeva amid cheers from the audience and then abruptly shifts to police entering the campus to arrest a student.
The second scene involves a conversation wherein prime minister Devki Nandan Singh (played by Tigmanshu Dhulia) insults Dalit leader Kailash Kumar (played by Anup Soni). Another change in the series was that a dialogue referencing caste between Soni’s character and Sandhya Mridul’s Sandhya was shortened.