Author Surender Mohan Pathak accuses Amazon Prime’s Mirzapur of tarnishing his image by depicting his crime series ‘Dhabba’ as porn

Famous Hindi crime fiction author Surender Mohan Pathak has sent a notice to the makers of Mirzapur 2, stating his novel ‘Dhabba’ was “mischievously misrepresented” in the series.

Letter to the makers of #Mirzapur2 for misrepresentation of novel “DHABBA”. @excelmovies @PrimeVideoIN @PrimeVideo @ritesh_sid @FarOutAkhtar @PuneetKrishna @krnx @gurmmeet #Mirzapur2 #MirzapurOnPrime pic.twitter.com/6g66wleUso

— SurenderMohan Pathak (@SurenderMPathak) October 27, 2020

In a letter, Pathak has accused the Amazon Prime series maker of trying to tarnish his image of a celebrated writer of crime fiction by wrongly depicting part of his ‘Sunil Series’ as pornography

‘Dhabba’ is not pornography

In episode 3 of the series, Satyandand Tripathi, played by actor Kulbhushan Kharbanda, is reading an excerpt from Surender Mohan Pathak’s novel ‘Dhabba’. Pathak said that what the character is reading in the scene through a voice-over is “sheer porno”. He further added that he could not even dream of writing such content in his novel. “The object appears to be an attempt to tarnish my image as a celebrated writer of Hindi crime fiction who is ruling the roost since last several decades. The sequence defames me as an author and puts me in a bad light as a well-known mystery writer, which I am since more than the last five decades,” he further added. Pathak said any character bearing the name “Baldev Raj” did not even appear in his novel in the said context.

The 80-year-old writer has asked the OTT platform to remove the sequence from the series, failing to which he will initiate legal proceedings against the series, writers, producers including Farhan Akhtar, and actors involved in the ‘malicious act’.

Critics ask Mirzapur creators to apologise

One of the first to notice the misrepresentation was Film Critic Bobby Sing. Sing said that it is a typical attitude of the writers to consider ‘Hindi Detective Novel’ to be cheap compared to an ‘English Crime Thriller Novel’. He further added, “The manner Dhabba was represented in Mirzapur 2 is brutal and unacceptable.

Ajay Brahmatmaj, film critic, said that the alleged ‘mistake’ shows how the writers and producers of the Hindi web series misrepresent the literature, culture and characters.

लेखक-निर्देशक की लापरवाही या नासमझी?#Mirzapur2https://t.co/23yDNaNPmg

— MrB (@brahmatmajay) October 28, 2020

Brahmatmaj urged the OTT platform to remove the sequence and issue an apology.

#BoycottMirzapur2 trended ahead of its release

Web series Mirzapur is not new to controversies. The gross use of abusive language, sexual content, and controversial statements of its actors, including Ali Fazal during anti-CAA protests, have brought the series into the limelight. Before the release of the second season of the series, hashtag #BoycottMirzapur2 also trended on social media platforms.