Ali Abbas Zafar, director of 'Tandav', has issued a statement announcing that changes will be made to the show, after a certain section of the audience alleged that it hurt their religious sentiments.
In a statement shared on Tuesday, Ali wrote, "We have utmost respect for the sentiments of the people of our country. 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. 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 thank the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for the guidance & support in the matter. We once again apologize if the series has unintentionally hurt anybody's sentiments."
Meanwhile, an FIR has been lodged against makers and artists of the web series in Greater Noida, police said on Tuesday. This is at least the third FIR to be filed in Uttar Pradesh against the makers of the web series.
The complainant alleges inappropriate depiction of UP Police personnel, Hindu deities, and adverse portrayal of a character playing the prime minister in the political drama, according to the FIR. The FIR names as accused Ali Abbas 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.
The FIR has been lodged under Indian Penal Code sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 505(1)-1B(making any statement, rumour or report with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public), 505(2) (statements conducing to public mischief).
The Madhya Pradesh government will also file a case against the makers of the series for allegedly hurting religious sentiments, Home Minister Narottam Mishra stated.
Talking to reporters, Mishra said, "I condemn the way Zeeshan Ayyub, Saif Ali Khan and Ali Abbas Zafar reacted to our religion and hurt the sentiments."
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also reacted to the controversy over depiction of Hindu deities in the web series, saying "no one has the right to hurt our faith and insult our deities".