Tandav Controversy Row: Ali Abbas Zafar shares a ‘quick update’ after issuing an apology

Amazon Prime Video’s latest offering Tandav has been receiving flak on social media. A section of the audience to political leaders, many have taken offence for allegedly hurting ‘religious sentiments’ of Hindus in the web series. Also, complaints were lodged against the same. Yesterday, the team released a statement on the controversy row and apologised. Creator, director and producer Ali Abbas Zafar shared the statement on his Twitter handle and sincerely apologised for having unintentionally hurt the sentiments.

After issuing the apology, Ali Abbas Zafar took to Twitter to share a ‘quick update’ with netizens. He shared that the team of Tandav were in ‘further engagement’ with the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to ‘resolve the concerns’. He also wrote that they value ‘continued patience and support’  and will have a ‘solution shortly’.

His tweet read: “We just want to share a quick update with everybody. We are in further engagement with the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to resolve the concerns that have been raised. We value your continued patience and support, and should have a solution shortly.”

We just want to share a quick update with everybody. We are in further engagement with the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to resolve the concerns that have been raised. We value your continued patience and support, and should have a solution shortly. https://t.co/Yp8kogTlvs

— ali abbas zafar (@aliabbaszafar) January 18, 2021

For the unversed, it all started with a scene of the web series in the first episode of Tandav. It is during a play Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub (Shiva Shekhar) plays Lord Shiva and says, “Azaadi, what the…?” The narrator then tells Lord Shiva that he needs to do something to improve his popularity on social media as the popularity of Lord Ram is gaining. This scene created a huge uproar on social media. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Manoj Kotak wrote to Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar and sought a ban on Tandav. MLA Ram Kadam also demanded the removal of the part of Lord Shiva and an apology from Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub. An FIR was filed against Amazon India original content head Aparna Purohit, Ali Abbas Zafar, producer Himanshu Krishna Mehra, writer Gaurav Solanki and others at the Hazratganj police station of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Former UP chief minister, Mayawati also tweeted that for ‘peace and harmony’ the objectionable scene should be removed from the web-series.

Tandav stars Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia, Kumud Mishra, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub, Dino Morea, Sunil Grover, Gauahar Khan, Amyra Dastur, Kritika Kamra and Sarah Jane Dias among others.

Also Read: Tandav Row: Ali Abbas Zafar issues ‘sincere apologies’ on behalf of cast & crew