Disney Plus Hotstar’s upcoming web series Grahan has landed in trouble ahead of its release on June 24. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Bibi Jagir Kaur has said the web series portrays a Sikh character in an “objectionable manner”. A witness of the 1984 riots has also sent a legal notice to the makers.
Directed by Ranjan Chandel, the eight-episode series is set in 1984 when the nation was shaken by the riots that took place after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The show is inspired by the novel Chaurasi by Satya Vyas.Talking to reporters in Amritsar on Monday, Bibi Jagir Kaur said, “A Sikh character has been portrayed in an objectionable manner in a web series called Grahan based on the 1984 Sikh genocide. In the web series, the charge of Sikh genocide is being levelled against a Sikh character which is highly condemnable and fabricated.”
Kaur added that through the web series “work is being done to rub salt on the wounds of Sikhs which would hurt the Sikh sentiments”. She also believes that such a show will affect the “communal harmony” in the society, thus “the government should enact strict Information Technology (IT) rules to curb such sensitive and objectionable trends.” Supported by SGPC, a witness of the riots, Nirpreet Kaur has also sent a legal notice to Ajay G Rai, producer of Grahan, and Sunil Ryan, head and president of Disney Plus Hotstar. Bibi Jagir Kaur has also warned the makers against legal action if they release the web series with content that shows the Sikh community in poor light.
