Tandav controversy: Amazon Prime Video again apologises

Amazon Prime Video on Tuesday said it respects its viewersrsquo ldquodiverse beliefsrdquo and apologises unconditionally to anyone who felt hurt by scenes in ldquoTandavrdquo a starry political saga that found itself in trouble over allegations that it depicted Hindu gods in an objectionable manner In a statement the streamer said it deeply regrets the fact that viewers considered certain scenes to be objectionable and added that those have already been removedIt said it would continue to develop entertaining content with partners while complying with the laws of India and respecting the diversity of culture and beliefs of our audiencesAmazon Prime Video again deeply regrets that viewers considered certain scenes to be objectionable in the recently launched fictional series Tandav This was never our intention and the scenes that were objected to were removed or edited when they were brought to our attention the company said in its statementWe respect our viewers diverse beliefs and apologise unconditionally to anyone who felt hurt by these scenes Our teams follow company content evaluation processes which we acknowledge need to be constantly updated to better serve our audiences it addedThe Saif Ali Khan Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub Dimple Kapadia starrer landed in major political controversy for a scene depicting a college play It led to multiple FIRs and furious allegations that it hurt religious sentiments Faced with multiple FIRs arrests and calls for boycott the cast and crew of the Ali Abbas Zafardirected series apologised twice Eventually the team decided to cut the objectionable portionsThe government last week brought new guidelines for social media and OTT platforms to ensure compliance with local lawsThe apology from the streamer also comes four days after the Allahabad High Court rejected the anticipatory bail plea filed by Amazon Prime Videos head of India Originals Aparna Purohit stating that the title of the show can be offensive to the majority of the people of this countryWhile rejecting the application a singlejudge bench of Justice Sidharth said the applicant was earlier granted interim protection from arrest by another bench in a similar case but she was not cooperating with the investigationThe court observed Western filmmakers have refrained from ridiculing Lord Jesus or the Prophet but Hindi filmmakers have done this repeatedly and are still doing this most unabashedly with Hindu gods and goddessesIn January the Information and Broadcasting Ministry sought an explanation from the makers as the chorus for a boycott grew against the show The show about intrigue in Delhirsquos corridors of power touches on current issues such as student unrest and farmer protests ldquoTandavrdquo which literally translates to lsquodance of destructionrsquo dominated headlines for days as the controversy refused to die down despite the makers apology and the decision to remove the scene in questionThe nineepisode show Tandavrsquo which premiered on the service on January 15 is only the latest in a long line of showbiz offerings to attract controversy for one reason or another Netflix show ldquoA Suitable Boyrdquo based on Vikram Sethrsquos bestselling novel faced the ire of the rightwing for a scene showing a Muslim man and a Hindu girl kissing in the backdrop of a temple Amazons ldquoPataal Lokrdquo got into trouble for its depiction of communal issues and Netflixs ldquoLeilardquo was called antiHindu for showing the dystopian future of AryavartaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever