Netflix’s first Indian original web series, Sacred Games, made its debut on July 6. All 8 episodes are available on the OTT platform. The series stars Bollywood names like Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte. It is high on sensitive content. Based on Vikram Chandra’s novel and directed by Anurag Kashyap-Vikramaditya Motwane, the series makes references to religious and political turmoils in India. One of such references seems to have landed the series in trouble.
Rajiv Sinha, member of Congress, in West Bengal, has filed a complaint against the show, showrunners and Nawazuddin, for allegedly insulting former PM, Rajiv Gandhi. In his letter to the police, he wrote, that Nawazuddin’s character “abused our late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi calling him fattu, which translated as pu*** in the subtitle.” He also accused the makers of the show of “misrepresenting facts during his regime.”
Concluding his letter, he wrote, “Along with this the serial crosses all limits of decency and has taken the Indian film industry to a new low,” The complainant has requested the police to lodge an FIR against everyone related to Sacred Games.
Earlier, in an exclusive interview with BollywoodLife, Saif was asked if he was nervous that Sacred Games can cause a controversy. To which Saif had replied, “Well, when we make shows, we try to stay as true as we can to the source material. We try to have some integrity with the storytelling. but the idea is not to get carried away, not to offend anyone. I don’t think it is offensive at all, even the language is controlled. If you are playing a mafia guy, his language might be a bit extreme. Or maybe not. We also have polite mafia guys as well. But generally…It is a free environment, the whole point of the internet is that it is free of judgement and censorship. You don’t want to offend anyone, you just want to tell a story properly. I don’t see anything offensive about it. It is kind of a relief to not be bothered about it.”
Talking about the show, Nawazuddin has said earlier, “The script was written with a lot of details and because the story told in eight episodes, which means an eight-hour show… As an actor, I got a chance to go close to the character. It has a much-nuanced portrayal on-screen. It has not only given me a chance to go deeper into the character but also explore the possibility to work on a scene better.”