Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma: Makers react on demand to ban the show for hurting religious sentiments

Amid growing controversies over the popular show India's longest running sitcom serial Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma, a ban was demanded by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on 17th September for allegedly portraying a series of blasphemous acts.

“In Episode 2287 of TMKOC, Sodhi was dressed up as Guru Gobind Singh Ji ka Khalsa. We request viewers to not misinterpret it in any other way,” said a tweet on show’s official handle.

The apex religious body of the Sikhs had earlier warned the channel and the director of the show from showing “blasphemous” content on small screen. “No actor or any character can equate himself with the tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh. Such an act is unpardonable,” the statement said.

Earlier, talking to Bollywoodlife.com, Munmun Dutta who plays Babita on the show had said, “Gurucharan is a staunch Sikh himself will never do and speak anything that goes against the sentiments of Sikhs all around the world. I clearly remember having a conversation with him about this particular sequence on the day of the shoot and he had mentioned that nobody is allowed to play Guru Gobind Singh ji and thus he is enacting the role of his Khalsa. And that’s exactly what we shot and showed on TV. People who have raised objections about it have clearly not seen the sequence. I wish they had made the effort to see it first where the character Sodhi clearly states that he is his Khalsa and not him.”

She also said that it was all a misunderstanding because when that particular scene started, he scroll introducing his character stated ‘Sodhi as Guru Gobind Singh Ka Khalsa’ and apparently the ‘Ka Khalsa got hidden behind the disclaimer scroll run by the channel.