Tandav (Season 1)

Tandav (Season 1) Web Series Details:

Country	India
Language	Hindi
Genre	Thriller, Action, Political drama
Season	1
Episodes	9
Release date	15 January 2021
Running time	26-38 minutes
Age rating	18+
Starring	Saif Ali Khan Dimple Kapadia Sunil Grover Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub Anup Soni Kritika Kamra Sarah Jane Dias Gauahar Khan
Created by	Ali Abbas Zafar
Directed by	Ali Abbas Zafar
Written by	Gaurav Solanki
Produced by	Himanshu Kishan Mehra Ali Abbas Zafar
Cinematography by	Karol Stadnik
Edited by	Steven H. Bernard
Music by	Songs: A. R. Rahman Score: Julius Packiam
Casting by	Anmol Ahuja Abhishek Banerjee Nikita Grover
Production Design by	Snigdha Basu Sumit Basu Rajnish Hedao
Production Company	Offside Entertainment
Distributor	Amazon Prime Video

Tandav (Season 1) Web Series Cast & Character:

• Saif Ali Khan as Samar Pratap Singh, the son of a three-term Prime Minister, Devki Nandan Singh
• Dimple Kapadia as Anuradha Kishore, an old friend of Devki Nandan Singh
• Sunil Grover as Gurpal Singh
• Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Shiva Shekhar, student in VNU
• Anup Soni as Kailash Kumar
• Kritika Kamra as Sana Mir, student in VNU
• Sarah Jane Dias as Ayesha Pratap Singh, wife of Samar Pratap Singh
• Gauahar Khan as Maithili Sharan, Anuradha’s Personal Assistant
• Dino Morea as Professor Jigar Sampath
• Sandhya Mridul as Professor Sandhya Nigam
• Tigmanshu Dhulia as Devki Nandan Singh, father of Samar Pratap Singh and Raghu Kishore Singh
• Priyal Mahajan as Rhea Pratap Singh, daughter of Samar Pratap Singh and Ayesha Pratap Singh
• Neha Hinge as Garima Deswal
• Parv Kaila as Vishal Awasthi
• Kumud Mishra as Gopal Das Munshi
• Paresh Pahuja as Raghu Kishore Singh, son of Anuradha Kishore
• Kritika Avasthi as Richa Avasthi
• Tasneem Khan as Disha Kapoor
• Shonali Nagrani as Aditi Mishra
• Amyra Dastur as Ada Mir
• Hiten Tejwani as Ajay Ahluwalia, Editor at NNN
• Sukhmani Sadana as Divya Ahluwalia, Doctor
• Jaimin Panchal as Protestor in VNU
• Manju Bahuguna as Farmer 2
• Bhavna Choudhary as Preeti Singh
• Sunny Prajapati as Election Volunteer

Storyline:

The charismatic leader of a premiere political party known as Janata Lok Dal (JLD), Samar Pratap Singh (Saif Ali Khan) feels he’s ready to inherit the chair of PM but Samar’s father, the party patriarch and the PM, Devki Nandan Singh (Tigmanshu Dhulia), isn’t willing to retire yet. Anuradha Kishore, Devki’s close associate (Dimple Kapadia) and party senior leader Gopal Das (Kumud Mishra) are few of many other leaders considering themselves fit to sit in this chair. But this chair never comes easily, they must constantly keep striving for it. A parallel story is that of the idealistic campus activist Shiva Shekhar (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) who becomes an overnight icon as he shines at a political event. Shiva now wants to bring the change, sway the youth, overthrow the power pillars – he knows the sweet taste of power. And power corrupts. Shiva and Samar will meet as country politics will cross roads with youth politics. Tandav is the coming together of a series of manipulations that exposes layers of human greed, ambition, love, vulnerability, and violence.

About Tandav (Season 1) Web Series:

Tandav is an Indian political thriller web series created, directed, and produced by Ali Abbas Zafar, in his digital debut, with the script being written by Gaurav Solanki. The series has an ensemble cast featuring Saif Ali Khan, Sunil Grover, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Dimple Kapadia, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Dino Morea and Anup Soni.

Vijay Subramaniam, head of content for Amazon Prime Video India, announced six Indian originals, at the Television Critics Association’s press tour held in California in February 2019, which also included Ali Abbas Zafar’s maiden web series as well.

Ali Abbas Zafar initially planned to bring in big names for the cast, as Saif Ali Khan eventually accepted to play the lead protagonist, Samar Pratap Singh. It marks Saif’s second web series, after Netflix’s Sacred Games. Saif will be shown to be a Chanakya-like political leader who is also the central character of the series.

Principal shooting of the series was kickstarted in October 2019.

Tandav was mostly shot in Pataudi Palace, Haryana, with Saif stating that “We have shot a lot of sequences for the show in the palace. I have spent maximum time in the palace than anywhere in the world. It’s my home so it was extremely comfortable shooting there. I never mind giving it for shoots especially when I am working in any project. It is almost unused for 340 days. I like to think of it as commercial property and am happy to rent it out. But it does make me little bit nervous when the crew moves in. It was a pleasure staying there and shooting there.” Rest of the scenes were shot at the Imperial Hotel in Delhi.

It was revealed that most of the shoot had been completed before the government imposed the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in India in March 2020. As of June 2020, Zafar stated that “The post-production work is under completion, with edit work was underway. As a lot of the work can be done online, it is keeping me busy.”

Amazon Prime Video announced 20 Indian originals scheduled for a release in 2020, with Tandav being one of them. However, the release was postponed to 2021, citing production delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first teaser of Tandav was released through YouTube on 17 December 2020. On 28 December 2020, posters featuring Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Sunil Grover, Gauhar Khan, Kritika Kamra, Sarah Jane Dias and Kumud Misra were released. A new poster was released on 3 January 2021, followed by the trailer on 4 January. The series premiered through Amazon Prime Video on 15 January 2021.

Tandav (Season 1) Episodes List:

Tandav S1, Episode 1 – Tanashah

Farmer protests in Malakpur. JLD party members cheer outside Devki Niwas. VNU students file a complaint at the police station. Samar Pratap Singh and Devki Nandan have a conversation over a drink.

Tandav S1, Episode 2 – Aazaadi

Samar calls his friend Ajay Ahluwalia at National News Network for some help. Breaking News spreads all across the city with everyone waking up to shocking news. At the VNU dhaba the students bring in a lawyer to help them with their case. Widespread protests in Alwar against a senior leader of the JLD. Shiva Shekhar, a student of VNU takes the help of the farmers at Malakpur and records a fake  video about the protests which later goes viral.

Tandav S1, Episode 3 – Chandragupta

Maithili Sharan, Anuradha’s secretary gets a call from an unknown number and the man blackmails her with crucial information. Gurpal Chauhan, Samar’s right hand man sends his social media cell guy, Sharat to the doctor’s houses to spy on them. Professor Jigar Sampath and Professor Sandhya Nigam are on the verge of a divorce. Farmers from Malakpur arrive at VNU to support Shiva Shekhar’s endeavour. Simultaneously, JLD party members have big decisions to make at the JLD office.

Tandav S1, Episode 4 – Left se Right

Mahant Kunj Police Station inspector Narendra Jhakar takes over the VNU students case and helps them out. Garima Deswal invites Shiva for a panel discussion at National News Network where he meets Aditi Mishra, another member of the JLD. Later, farmers from Malakpur arrive at VNU again to thank Shiva as the government puts a stay order on any work happening on their land. Nomination day at VNU, Students Association of India (SAI) members nominate their respective candidates.

Tandav S1, Episode 5 – Jeevan aur Mrityu

Election campaigning goes on in VNU with all parties vying for votes. SAI members search for their missing friend in the university and later reach Mahant Kunj Police Station to file a complaint. Party portfolios get distributed among the various JLD members. Swearing in of all the ministers takes place, while on the other hand Dramatic events follow with the SAI missing member.

Tandav S1, Episode 6 – Babool Ka Ped

A key member of SAI withdraws their nomination. Anonymous Caller calls Garima to give her a crucial piece of information. Garima questions Ajay about the same. Samar arrives at VNU and gives a speech to support and stand alongside the students. Massive fight ensues between the students of VNU.

Tandav S1, Episode 7 – Dhappa

Gurpal meets his informer Chhote Lal at Indian International Centre of Medical Science (IICMS) who gives him valuable information. Gurpal watches CCTV footage of IICMS and spots something major. Sana Mir and Shiva request Samar to have a proper CBI investigation of the case. Shiva reaches Samar’s house to meet him, Maithili searches for the Anonymous Caller, finds someone else instead.

Tandav S1, Episode 8 – Tandav

Reporters line up outside Home Minister Kailash Kumar’s house. Sandhya gives him important news. VNU students request the election officers to postpone the elections. Shiva gives a speech and makes a major announcement at the Vivekananda Statue. Sana gets threatening messages from an unknown person. Presidential Debate takes place at VNU between Amit Mewani and Shiva.

Tandav S1, Episode 9 – Khel

Election day at VNU, we see all the students vote for their preferred presidential candidate. An SAI member gets admitted to the hospital where other members come to visit. Tragedy strikes Anuradha Kishore as all news channels report about her. Victory speech at VNU after which Sana and Shiva decide to meet. Press conference held by JLD to make an announcement.

Controversy

The series caused controversy as several leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party called for its ban and accused the makers and actors of hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus and mocking the Hindu God Shiva in one of the episodes and also described it as being anti-Dalit as a reason for the ban. Following the controversy, Ali Abbas Zafar offered an unconditional apology on behalf of the cast and crew of the show, and said he would make changes in the web-series owing to the concerns raised by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry regarding some portions of the show. Separate FIRs were filed in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra under Sections 153A and 295 of Indian Penal Code (IPC).