Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has appreciated Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s reaction to the Netflix show Sacred Games that shows a character criticising the politician’s father, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. “That’s a yay,” Kashyap, a co-director of the show, wrote on Twitter on Saturday after Gandhi said he believed in freedom of expression. “BJP/RSS believe the freedom of expression must be policed & controlled. I believe this freedom is a fundamental democratic right. My father lived and died in the service of India. The views of a character on a fictional web series can never change that. #SacredGames,” Gandhi had said. BJP/RSS believe the freedom of expression must be policed & controlled. I believe this freedom is a fundamental democratic right. My father lived and died in the service of India. The views of a character on a fictional web series can never change that.#SacredGames — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 14, 2018 Sacred Games is facing a legal petition over the removal of certain content from the web series on the grounds of insulting former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The Netflix original has scenes in which a character hits out at Congress for the Emergency imposed by the Indira Gandhi government, the Bofors scandal and the Shah Bano case that created a storm during Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure as Prime Minister. Actor Swara Bhaskar and journalist Barkha Dutt also lauded Gandhi’s reaction to the controversy. “It is impressive that a mainstream politician like @RahulGandhi is taking this clear & progressive stand on freedom of expression & censorship. Also it’s gracious & mature that he is able to set aside the personal for the larger goal of democratic rights. #CreditWhereDue,” Swara wrote in her tweet. It is impressive that a mainstream politician like @RahulGandhi is taking this clear & progressive stand on freedom of expression & censorship. Also it’s gracious & mature that he is able to set aside the personal for the larger goal of democratic rights. #CreditWhereDue 👏🏾👏🏾 https://t.co/cfEU0S2KaS — Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) July 14, 2018 The series is based on author Vikram Chandra’s novel by the same name. It has been directed by Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane and stars Saif Ali Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-tv_listing-desktop<doc-sep>Netflix is being taken to court in India and asked to delete certain “offensive scenes” and remarks about former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in its original series, Sacred Games. The Delhi High court is studying a petition filed by Nikhil Bhalla against Netflix, which is producing Sacred Games as its first Indian original series. Bhalla is a member of the opposition Congress party, which Gandhi led until his assassination in 1991. Sacred Games is set in Mumbai and examines the gritty underworld and politics scene in that city. It bowed this month and is based on a 2006 novel by Vikram Chandra Gandhi is referred to as a “fattu,” a Hindi slang word for a coward, in one scene deemed objectionable. As he shakes hands with world leaders, a voice-over talks of his appeasement of Muslims in a case involving divorce rights for Muslim women. “The show ‘Sacred Games’ has inappropriate dialogues, political attacks and even speeches, which are derogatory in nature and harms the reputation of the former Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi,” the petition said. Gandhi became prime minister after his mother Indira was assassinated in 1984. His son, Rahul Gandhi, is the current party president. Netflix has been asked to delete any derogatory remarks made directly or indirectly against Rajiv Gandhi or his family. “We cannot afford to, in the name of freedom of speech allow anything to be beamed in every home without regard to its impact on society,” the petition said. India heavily censors its movies and television, but does not censor Internet content. Netflix’s Indian operation has not yet responded to the petition.<doc-sep>
Saif Ali Khan, who plays the policeman Sartaj Singh in Netflix’s controversial original series, Sacred Games, says that in India, one could get killed for giving voice to their opinions. The actor was reacting to the furore surrounding India’s first Netflix show, which was released on the streaming service on July 6 and has been criticised by politicians and prudes alike. “If you date someone from the wrong caste, somebody will kill you in some parts of India. That’s just the way it is,” Saif said in an interview to The Quint. The actor was in London, and compared their relatively free society to the overbearing rules in India. “I don’t know how much you can criticise your government in India, somebody might kill you,” Saif said. Sacred Games has come under fire for its graphic nature, which includes sex, violence, bad language and an unfiltered outlook at Indian politics. A member of the Congress party has filed a petition against the show for its depiction of former PM Rajiv Gandhi. His son and current Congress president Rahul Gandhi in a tweet Saturday said that his “father lived and died in the service of India. The views of a character on a fictional web series can never change that.” Gandhi’s statement was lauded by the show’s creative team, including co-director Anurag Kashyap. “It will be deeply frustrating if something happens to the show. If someone says you can’t air this or if Netflix is discontinued. Then that will be my turn to be outraged,” Saif said. Sacred Games has received positive reviews from critics and boasts an 86% rating on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. Talks of a season 2 have already been swirling around the internet. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-tv_listing-desktop