‘Bandhan’ on ZEE TV to end this month
ZEE TV’s popular series ‘Bandhan’ is coming to an abrupt end later this month amid claims that the baby elephant working on the show was not treated right.
Producer Siddharth Kumar Tewary refuted rumours of animal cruelty after it received a letter from PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) claiming that the elephant calf developed a skin infection and began showing abnormal behaviour. Tewary said, “We started shooting and it went well for a few months, and then suddenly , we got a letter from PETA claiming that we were shooting with an elephant calf and it’s not allowed. We met the AWBI officials and they suddenly told us that we can’t shoot with a calf under two years of age. We reminded them that that they had sent us a mail in 2012 saying that there is no age criteria, and that the elephant we are shooting with is three years old. The AWBI officials were supportive and gave us a go-ahead, but after a few months, they sent us a letter revoking the order with immediate effect, citing no reasons for the action.
Also, the issue and case so far has always been between us and the AWBI. PETA has not been involved at all, at least officially. The court also had instructed to only send AWBI officials to the set. I don’t know how the PETA team got there and took pictures, that too showing the animal in such a bad state. If we wanted to ill-treat an animal, why would we make a series which talks about the animal-human bond? I wish people understood the hard work that the team has put into a series with an animal as the lead. We made Mahabharat with so many animals and not once did we ever receive a complaint.”
From Monday 13th April, ‘Bandhan’ will air for 25-minutes rather than the usual 30-minutes. It will then bow out with its final episode on Monday 20th April at 19:00 (UK) / Friday 17th April at 19:00 (India). The show will initially be replaced with a 45-minute edition of ‘Hello Pratibha’, which will commence at 19:15 as oppose to 19:30. The 19:00 slot is then expected to be given to ‘Tumhi Ho Bandhu…’, which recently started promotions on ZEE TV.
