A total of three separate petitions were heard by a three-bench judges

NEW DELHI (TIP): ‘Tandav’, released on January 15, is a nine-episode political thriller. The web series landed in controversaries on allegedly hurting religious sentiments, The Supreme Court on Wednesday, January 27, has refused to provide interim protection from arrest to Tandav’s director Ali Abbas Zafar and others who are seeking quashing of issued notices and FIRs against them by Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and other states for allegedly hurting Hindu’s religious sentiments. A total of three separate petitions of Zafar, Amazon Prime India head Aparna Purohit, producer Himanshu Mehra, the show’s writer Gaurav Solanki and actor Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub was heard by a bench including justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and M R Shah.

Besides seeking quashing of the FIRs, the pleas have requested clubbing of FIRs, reported PTI.

The bench of three has asked responses from states including UP, MP, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar and Delhi on the pleas. “Tandav”, released on January 15, is a political thriller, featuring Bollywood stars like Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia, Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub, Sunil Grover and Gauahar Khan.

The nine-episode web series, since its release on Amazon Prime Video, has landed itself into a political controversy on their two scenes. In one scene, actor Zeeshan Ayyub’s character plays Lord Shiva in a college play. However, he doesn’t don Lord Shiva’s traditional look and speaks about issues plaguing the society.

Another scene shows actor Sandhya Mridul’s character who tells her boyfriend and the father of her child, a Dalit political leader played by actor Anup Soni, that a man from the lower caste always takes advantage when he is involved with a woman from the upper caste. Several leaders, including members of the ruling party BJP, have demanded the streaming platform to remove the show as it allegedly hurts religious sentiments and ridicules Hindu gods. ‘Tandav’ makers had already issued an apology after complaints were registered with Police in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

(Courtesy / PTI- OPOYI)