Ali Abbas Zafar, the director of Tandav, has announced that the makers of the controversial web series will implement the changes to address concerns with regards to hurting religious sentiments. The filmmaker also expressed gratitude towards the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for their guidance during the whole controversy.
Ali Abbas Zafar said in a statement, “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,” he added.
Ali Abbas Zafar had earlier issued an ‘unconditional apology‘ for hurting religious sentiments after Hindus protested against the derogatory manner in which Hindu gods were portrayed. An FIR was also registered by the Uttar Pradesh police regarding the matter.
Amazon Prime’s India head of original content, Aparna Purohit, producer Himanshu Krishna Mehra and others have been named in the FIR. The Information and Broadcasting ministry had summoned the makers as well over the alleged Hinduphobic content.
It is unclear whether implementing necessary changes will settle the matter as people on social media remain unconvinced of the integrity of the apology.