The Gautam Buddha Nagar police in Uttar Pradesh has registered an FIR against the cast and crew of Amazon Prime’s Tandav for allegedly disturbing communal amity and peace.
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Lodged late on Monday night, the FIR has come after the Lucknow police registered a similar one against the cast and crew of the web series starring Saif Ali Khan, Zeeshan Ayyub, Dimple Kapadia and Sunil Grover.
The FIR has been lodged on the complaint of Balbir Azad of Raunija village under Rabupura police station of Greater Noida.
In the complaint, Mr Azad said the series depicted Uttar Pradesh and its police in a poor light. He had claimed the series was shot in Rabupura and in the first episode showed actors in police uniform consuming liquor and using abusive language.
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It further said the series had deliberately denigrated Hindu gods and goddesses. The Prime Minister of India has been depicted going against democratic norms and deliberate comments have been to disturb caste and communal amity.
Mr. Azad alleged that some of the lines in the script were against the Dalit community. The makers of the series wanted to disturb the peace and tranquillity with the aim of making money, he said.
Besides the lead actors, the FIR also names director Ali Abbas Zafar, writer Gaurav Solanki and Amazon Prime India head Aparna Purohit.
Mr. Azad, who described himself as a worker of the Bahujan Samaj Party, said an apology was not enough and that the series should be banned so that nobody would dare to use caste-laced comments.
After issuing an “unconditional apology” on Twitter on Monday, Mr. Zafar tweeted on Tuesday that they were “in further engagement with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to resolve the concerns that have been raised”.
