Grahan, directed by Ranjan Chandel, landed in trouble ahead of its premiere on June 24. The show, which is reportedly based on the Sikh riots in 1984, was accused of allegedly representing a Sikh character in an ‘objectionable’ manner. In a press conference, SPGC (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee) president Bibi Jagir Kaur claimed that in the web series “the charge of Sikh genocide is being levelled against a Sikh character which is highly condemnable and fabricated”.
She went on to seek a ban on the web series, however, it premiered on an OTT platform, as per its original release date. Days after the release of her show, Zoya Hussain aka Amrita Singh of Grahan has broken silence on the controversy surrounding her show.
In an exclusive interview with Times Now Digital, Zoya said, “It is completely understandable if somebody watches a trailer, they hear about it, I completely understand why certain people would feel upset. But (it is) understandable for anyone, anywhere. I think a lot of people when they did finally see the show, I hope that they felt at peace. Because we did our best and we tried and did it with utmost responsibility and care.”
“Because we all know people that these events have affected and they all have friends and family and all of that. We would not make anything irresponsible, so we knew that. But of course, when it finally came out, is when people understood as well. I am just grateful that they have seen like we did a good job,” she stated while adding that they did not want to hurt anybody or make anyone feel disrespected.
Continuing her chat with us, Zoya revealed the feedback she has received for her first web show after its release. “The feedback has been positive. It is nice to be a part of something that has become successful. It has also grown through word of mouth and DisneyPlusHotstar promoting it. So, it obviously feels nice to be part of a show that people are liking. I think It has surprised people a little bit as well because I am not sure what they were expecting before but after seeing it, they were certainly, a lot of people resonated with a lot of people,” she shared
Speaking of the response she got for her character Amrita Singh, the actress added that people have liked her role in general. According to Zoya, it makes sense in the larger scheme of things in the story. She concluded by saying that she is really happy as people have accepted her.
