After the makers of web series`Tandav’ had earlier issued an unconditional apology for hurting sentiments of people of India, it was the turn of show’s host platform Amazon Prime Video to do the same.

An official statement from the global streaming platform, whose main sibling wishes to be the biggest online retailer in Asia’s second biggest market, regretted having aired ‘Tandav’ where certain scenes and conduct of some characters were considered “objectionable”.

The statement said, “Amazon 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.”

“We respect our viewers’ diverse beliefs and apologize 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. We will continue to develop entertaining content with partners, while complying with the laws of India and respecting the diversity of culture and beliefs of our audiences,” the statement added.

The apology comes days after Allahabad High Court in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh turned down an anticipatory bail plea of Prime Video India’s head of India Originals Aparna Purohit in a police case filed against her and several others in the State.

Several police cases have been registered in the state of UP against `Tandav’, its makers and actors. All the police complaints broadly stated the web series hurts religious sentiments of Hindus.

The series features Bollywood biggies like Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia and director-actor Tigmanshu Dhulia apart from an ensemble cast comprising the likes of  Sarah Jane Dias, Gauhar Khan, Dino Morea, Anup Soni, Kumud Mishra and Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub.

In recent times several shows on various streaming platforms have come in for criticism over controversial content in India and a chain of police complaints have been lodged in various parts of the country against streaming platforms.

On February 25, 2021, the Indian government announced sweeping guidelines for SM and OTT platforms, and digital news publishers that in a nutshell could be said to have empowered self-regulation under government oversight. The guidelines seek to put an end to a free run of edgy, highly political and sexual content on streaming services, apart from trying to check spread of misinformation and fake news on SM and on the Internet from within and outside the country emphasizing on identification of  `first originator’ of such messages on SM platforms.