The wickedly Hinduphobic web series called ‘Tandav’ has rightfully drawn great outrage within India. While parading around trash-like filth as cinematic content in itself should amount to grave criminality, Tandav left no stone unturned to guilt trap Hindus for being who they are, not to mention, for their political choices in recent history. With the levels of outrage getting just too much for the creators of the show to tackle – two highly objectionable scenes have now been deleted, purportedly upon the directions of the country’s Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry.
According to reports, a scene featuring actor Zeeshan Ayyub as college student Shiva playing the Hindu deity Mahadeva in a theatre production has been removed. Another scene that has been deleted is a conversation depicting prime minister Devki Nandan Singh, played by Tigmanshu Dhulia, insulting Dalit leader Kailash Kumar, enacted by Anup Soni. Although the two scenes formed the fulcrum of all outrage and anger against Tandav, their deletion has done little to calm tempers – rightfully so.
The question which must be asked is also this – why did the I&B Ministry call for only two scenes to be deleted from Tandav? Does the ministry consider all Indians as fools who would fall for such mere optics, when the very foundations of the web series are laid in a deep-seated hatred for Hindus and their political choices – not to mention their spiritual practices? For the level of anti-Hindu filth that has been allowed to be aired on Amazon, nothing less than a complete takedown of the entire web series would be acceptable to the people of India.
Throughout the series, there are innumerable instances when one can find anti-Hindu rhetoric and narrative being spun, not to mention the fact that the show portrays Indian polity as a bunch of scavengers who have been put to power. Although subtle – the targeting of the BJP government by the makers of Tandav has not been given a miss by anyone.
Yet, being an anti-government series is not what merits Tandav to be taken off the OTT platform. What does necessitate such stern action, however, is the brazenness with which the creators of the show think they can go about insulting the Hindus. The entire series is filled with scenes that depict a wrong picture of India and are being used to propagate an anti-Hindu narrative, especially among those who do not seem to have a particular liking for the community since times immemorial.
Read more: Have series like Tandav and Pataal Lok led to a spate of anti-Hindu violence across the country?
The I&B Ministry must stop abdicating its responsibilities and ensure that stern action is taken against not just the web series, but also the creators of Tandav so that a precedent is set for the future, ensuring that such misadventures are never attempted again.