'Sacred Games' portrays Rajiv Gandhi's rule as Prime Minister in archive footage
Highlights
- Rahul Gandhi said he didn't believe in controlling freedom of expression
- 3 complaints against 'Sacred Games' makers over Rajiv Gandhi's portrayal
- Madhur Bhandarkar said he had faced trouble around his film's release
The controversy surrounding Netflix's new show 'Sacred Games' over a line critical of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi refuses to die. While his son Rahul Gandhi's statement on the subject earned a thumbs up from co-director Anurag Kashyap, others jumped into the debate with their own two bits.
"That's a yay," said Mr Kashyap quoting Rahul Gandhi's tweet. The Congress president had earlier voiced his opinion on Twitter.
But director Madhur Bhandarkar reacted to the tweet too, posting a video, which he claimed was "a compilation of the harrowing experience" he faced around the release of his film 'Indu Sarkar' that had been seen to be critical of Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi - Mr Gandhi's grandmother.
Mr Bhandarkar alleged Congress party workers "tried to police & control my FOE (freedom of expression)".
Amit Malviya, head of BJP's IT cell replied to Madhur Bhandarkar's tweet, saying Rahul Gandhi "is no champion of free speech". In the tweet, he questioned the commitment to the freedom of expression of generations of Gandhi family members "from Nehru to Indira then Rajiv and most recently Sonia", and ended by saying Rajiv Gandhi's "legacy of Bofors & Shah Bano are well known to the people of India".
'Sacred Games', despite becoming a critical darling, has racked up three separate complaints across the country, two of which are from Congress activists, while all three are over ex-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's portrayal. The two complaints have as of now, not been withdrawn yet, despite Rahul Gandhi's tweet.
'Sacred Games' shows Rajiv Gandhi in archive footage and talks about different incidents in Indian political history during his rule, in the disparaging voice of fictional Mumbai gangster Ganesh Gaitonde, portrayed by Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
Besides Mr Kashyap, actor Swara Bhasker too praised Rahul Gandhi's stance, saying it was "gracious & mature that he is able to set aside the personal for the larger goal of democratic rights".