#BanGrahanWebSeries: Trouble for Hotstar series 'Grahan', SGPC calls for ban
Upcoming Hotstar Specials series Grahan, based on the mass killings of the Sikhs in 1984, is drawing flak over the "objectionable" portrayal of a Sikh character. Netizens are trending the hashtag #BanGrahanWebSeries on Twitter continuously, while the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has also demanded that the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry ban the series before its premiere on Disney+ Hotstar on June 24.
This is what the trailer told us about the show
Based on Satya Vyas's book Chaurasi, Grahan focuses on a police officer (Zoya Hussain) who is tasked with solving cold cases from the 1984 riots in Bokaro. As seen in the trailer, her investigations lead to a dangerous intersection, where she discovers her father (Pavan Malhotra) might have something to do with the violence. Narration switches between present and past as the mystery intensifies.
'Leveling charge of Sikh genocide on Sikh character highly condemnable'
Organizing a press conference on Monday, SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur said, "In the web series, the charge of Sikh genocide is being leveled against a Sikh character which is highly condemnable and fabricated." She said a witness of the genocide has sent a legal notice to the producer of Grahan, Ajay G Rai, and Disney+ Hotstar head/president, Sunil Rayan, on the matter.
'Stop playing with our pain,' read a tweet
Kaur went on to warn the streamer and makers of legal action if they do not ban the show. She also batted for the inclusion of Sikh representatives in the Censor board so that controversial scenes pertaining to Sikhs can be thoroughly checked. Twitter saw around 30K tweets asking for the ban. "Stop playing with our pain," read a tweet.
The web series is 'rubbing salt on wounds of Sikhs'
"Through this web series, work is being done to rub salt on the wounds of Sikhs which would hurt the Sikh sentiments... Therefore, the government should enact strict Information Technology (IT) rules to curb such sensitive and objectionable trends," the SGPC president added.
Recently, Prime Video's 'The Family Man 2' faced similar objection
To recall, a similar controversy greeted the premiere of the second installment of the Amazon Prime Video series The Family Man. Objecting to a flawed representation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), netizens and even Rajya Sabha MP Vaiko called for banning it. However, the outcry proved to be misguided once it released. Maybe, people should wait for Grahan to drop, too.
Multiple such tweets surfaced on the platform on Wednesday
Ranjan Chandel is helming the eight-part series
Directed by Ranjan Chandel, Grahan will be an eight-part series, also starring Anshuman Pushkar, Wamiqa Gabbi, Teekam Joshi, and Sahidur Rahman. Meanwhile, Shailendra Jha is the showrunner. Malhotra earlier described the show as "an innocent love story" that focuses on "the search for the truth."
