‘Tandav’: Do controversies help boost viewership?

It has certainly helped Amazon’s tepid political thriller Tandav which took off tamely on the streaming platform on January 15. Within days as the protests erupted the mediocre series got a whole lot of curious additional eyeballs. Kangana Ranaut went on to say the Tandav team should be jailed for atrocious content, wonder what we should do the makers of Rajjo and Revolver Rani!

A head honcho of a streaming corporation laughs, “It’s the oldest trick in the book. If your product is not selling, make it more visible, pump it with extraneous vigour. I’m not pointing fingers at any particular product, just saying this is how its works.”

Amazon India seems happy enough while Tandav’s principal actor Saif Ali Khan (who has nothing to do with the objectionable scenes in Tandav) and not Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub (who features in the offending scenes) has been provided padded security.

Amazon, in the meanwhile, has told all its actors and technicians to hold their peace.

One of the Tandav actors confided in this writer, “We’ve been told to keep absolutely quiet, not a word to any media, or it would be considered a breach of contract.”

One is inclined to recall the brouhaha over Padmaavat which added substantially to the film’s fortunes.