Netflix pushes back on petition to remove Indian Prime Minister reference in ‘Sacred Games’

Netflix

• Netflix’s first original series, “Sacred Games,” has
  been under legal pressure for an unflattering reference to an
  assassinated Indian Prime Minister.
• Netflix was reportedly in the process of changing a
  term in the subtitles of the show.
• But Netflix counsel told the Delhi High Court on
  Tuesday that Netflix did not want to change the
  word. 

Netflix has been facing legal heat for its first
original Indian series, “Sacred Games,” because of the show’s
references to former Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv
Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1991. But the streaming service
seems to be pushing back.

“Sacred Games” is about a Sikh cop in the Mumbai
police force named Sartaj Singh (played by the Bollywood star
Saif Ali Khan), and a mysterious Mumbai criminal, Ganesh Gaitonde
(Nawazuddin Siddiqui), caught in a game of cat and mouse after
Gaitonde calls Singh to tell him of an attack on the city set to
take place in 25 days.

In one scene in the show, Gaitonde calls Gandhi “fattu,”
which is translated in English subtitles as “p—-.” Since the
show streams online, it is not censored by India’s Censor
Board.
But that didn’t stop a member of India’s
Congress political party’s legal team from filing a petition
in the Delhi High Court for Netflix to delete any scenes that
reference Gandhi.

Time reported last month that
Netflix was in the process of replacing “p—-” with the word
“wimp” in the show’s subtitles. But Netflix reportedly still
hasn’t changed the reference, and doesn’t have any plans to do
so.

According to Indian news outlet India Today, Netflix’s counsel
informed the Delhi High Court on Tuesday that Netflix doesn’t
want to change the word because the series is available in
numerous languages that were translated by different
people.

“My instructions are that we don’t want to change the
word,” said Chander Lal, a senior advocate appearing for
Netflix.

India Today said the issue was scheduled for another
hearing on September 20.

Netflix did not immediately return a request for
comment.