Anti-Hindu, anti-Nation and anti-social web series ‘Tandav’ : A Review

Webseries ‘Tandav’ that is streaming on Amazon Prime is receiving more and more backlash from devout Hindus day by day. The webseries which is produced by Himanshu Mehra, and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar severely denigrates Deity Shiv and Prabhu Shriram. Additionally, this webseries misrepresents Hindu Dharma, India, Hindus and espouses communal divide and caste-hatred.

The webseries has streamed 9 episodes as of now and Samar Pratap Singh (actor Saif Ali Khan) and Shiva Shekhar (actor Mohammad Zeeshan) are the key characters of the script. The webseries finely disparages Hindu Dharma. Few episodes from the ‘Tandav’ webseries are given ahead.

1. Indian Governing system is anti-Muslims

The series starts with a farmer agitation which the ruling party tries to suppress. A politician very close to the son of prime minister orders the Police to kill the three participating Muslim youth. Two of them Ayub and Salim are killed in a Police encounter. Thus the religious fanatic director of the series indirectly aims to deliver the message how the ruling party in India itself makes an attempt to kill Muslims.

2. Insults Hindu Dharma protector Swami Vivekanand

One of the above mentioned three youth, Imran succeeds in protecting himself from the encounter since he goes to his college in Delhi. The name of this college is Vivekananda National University (VNU) which resembles the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) which, in reality, is full of anti-nationals and Communists. Thus, the series, in a way, insults the Hindu Dharma Protector and a warrior Ascetic Swami Vivekanand as well.

3. Denigrates Deity Shiv and Prabhu Shriram

Shiva Shekhar, a student of the college denigrates Deity Shiv by dancing in a college programme wearing Deity Shiva’s costume. The in the audience laugh loudly and the series also insults Prabhu Shriram through a drama.

4. An attempt to portray Indian Police as against anti-people

The Police arrest Imran calling him terrorist during the drama. Shiva Shekhar accompanied by other students reach the Police station saying it is an illegal arrest. The Police resort to lathi charge on students but since students counter-attack the Police, few of them get injured. This clearly portrays how Indian Police insensitive and do injustice to the common people.

5. The series has characters resembling the anti-national leaders

Later, Shiva Shekhar streams a video on social media wherein it has been depicted that 2 Muslim youths are killed by the Police in the farmer’s agitation. The Police are forced to release Imran due to enraged people. Shiva Shekhar resembles Kanhaiya Kumar, a former student of JNU and President of Communist party, and Imaran closely resembles Umar Khalid having allegation of treason against his name. Sana Mir, a girl student of VNU is portrayed as resembling anti-national Shehla Rashid.

6. Filming slogans by ‘Tukade Tukade Gang’

Imran’s release has created the celebrations at the university. The students of VNU chant slogans which appear to challenge democracy. The slogans resemble the slogans by JNU students like ‘Bharat tere tukade honge….’ chanted in 2016. The point to be noted here is that all students who are shown to be protesting are portrayed good, idealistic and fighting for justice. This clearly glorifies the leftist ideology.

7. Anti-BJP portrayal

The ruling party ‘Jan Lok Dal’ resembles BJP, and it is portrayed as of the rightist ideology. The party leader Devakinandan is characterized as Prime Minister who is killed by his own son Samar Pratap Singh (Saif Ali Khan). The series further is a show of internal party politics of base level. This clearly signals a portrayal against BJP. From the scene of the murder of the Prime Minister, the question ‘would PM Narendra Modi be killed in similar manner’ also crops up in mind while watching the film.

8. The rightist party is depicted as party of murderers

The dirty politics from the ruling party are depicted in the many incidents of VNU student association elections. A scene where a ruling party ‘Jan Lok Dal’ kills 3 students of leftist ideology for political benefit is shown.

9. Hindu Saints insulted to very severely

The murderer or the mastermind of the murders is portrayed to be watching the preaching of Hindu Saints on television. This is frequently portrayed in the web series that he is doing so in order to get peace of mind and to get rid of all his sins. The Saints are using abusive and double-meaning language. This is an insult of Hindu Saints. It deliberately delivers the message that all Hindu Sages and Saints are lowly.

10. An attempt to create caste divide between Dalits and upper castes !

Some scenes have been portrayed in the web series that the there is still discrimination based on castes in India. Prime Minister Devakinandan insults a senior party leader based on his caste. There are scenes with the dialogues like, ‘when a Dalit boy dates a girl from the upper caste, it is only to take revenge for the discrimination his community has suffered for the last hundreds of years’.

11. Glorifying the Muslims and showing them as the victims in the Indian context

There is a scene in which Shiva Shekhar says that Imran is Dashrathi Ram and a man with good virtues. Also, there is a scene where Imran is a leader of a student association but votes for Shiva Shekhar and thus portrays the character as a man of expansive nature.

In a scene a Muslim student expresses his grievances to Shiva Shekhar, ‘you already know how we are being treated in India !’ In another scene a Police officer addresses a Muslim saying, ‘you must be used to commit the crimes like this !’ Another scene depicts that a Police officer named Kishan cheats Sana Meer and her sister and usurps lakhs of rupees from both of them.

12. ‘Tandav’ is a name of the political party of Communist Shiva Shekhar !

Shiva Shekhar with leftist ideology names his political party as ‘Tandav’ in university elections. Shiva wins these elections.

In short, the entire web series promotes leftist ideology is glorified, and it keeps emphasizing how bad rightist political party is. Muslims are shown as the good persons and so-called caste system in Hindus is promoted. The web series discriminates between Hindu and Muslims where Muslims are depicted as simple with good virtues. Thus it is very clear that this web series is full of Hindu hatred, anti-nation and anti-social. Every Hindu and a patriotic person should oppose the web series in a legal and united way.

– Mr. Vikram Dongre, Sanatan Ashram, Ramnathi, Goa