A petition was filed against the Netflix show Sacred Games for insulting Rajiv Gandhi. Advocate Nikhil Bhalla, in his petition, alleges that show incorrectly depicts historical events such as the communal riots, Shah Bhano case and the BOFORS case.
He also refers to the scene in which Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s gangster character Ganesh Gaitonde calls Rajiv Gandhi ‘fattu’. The term is translated to ‘pussy’ in the initial version of the episode. It has since been corrected to ‘wimp’, but is still derogatory, according to Bhalla.
The case will be heard by the Delhi High Court today. While the plea was placed before Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Chari Shankar yesterday, a new bench will hear the case today since Gita Mittal recused herself.
The show continues to elicit strong reactions. The All India Cine Worker’s Association filed an FIR with the police on Wednesday. The FIR has been registered against Nawazuddin Siddiqui and the producers of the series, according to ANI.
Earlier this week, a Congress Party member Rajiv Kumar Sinha filed a police complaint against the show with the Girish Park Police in Kolkata.
The complaint has been accepted by the police station, but has not been acted upon as yet.
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A spokesperson for Netflix India said that they had only recently been made aware of the complaint. “It is being taken care of by our legal department, and at present, we have no comment,” they said.
Sacred Games is based on the novel of the same name by author Vikram Chandra. Staged as a cat-and-mouse game between Sartaj Singh (Saif Ali Khan) and Mumbai don Ganesh Gaitonde (Siddiqui), the series offers biting commentary on many important scandals in the 70’s and 80’s. Couched in the content are scathing criticisms of the BOFORs scandal and the controversy surrounding the Shah Bhano case.
The series, directed by Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane, was launched on the streaming platform on July 6.