What worked:
As a art lover, keeping the hot melting pot aside, the series deserve some attention. The cast is strong, though they could have been casted right. I must say, considering the makers history especially the director, we should have expected the series to be an entertainment packages rather than a well written and executed piece of art with layers and textures binding series of events altogether artistically. It's a one time entertainer; a pump and dump movie with over the top screen time and series of events. I personally did not find many loud anti Hindu sentimental scenes as I had expected. There were some that didn't feel right but not a lot. If you are a fan of typical Bollywood political thriller, you would not regret watching the show. But the exposure of lots of the world cinema makes it harder to appreciate this work mainly for its narrative and also for the sentiments it touched.
What did not work:
So much has already been discussed about the series and so many have raised the voice against the series, which makes sense considering the series's strong deviance towards secularism, caste system, religious sentiments, youth voices and political voices. The agenda of the series touched some religious sentiments that stirred agony and fury amongst the viewers, and that marred the words of mouth of the series. That has been a let down and a loss for the makers of the series. Maybe Tandav was not the best title, maybe religious voices should not have been questioned. Maybe working class people should not have been demonstrated as puppet and helpless. Maybe there are many issues with the series in regard with the opinion and the tolerance.
If we are to overlook the sentiments and watch the series as a work of fiction and not as a propaganda, we can maybe able to see what did not work for the series. As many mentioned, the depth in the character development is not prioritized maybe because of the short screen time. The only character I noticed having some depth and with some introspective sequence is of Sunil Grover and maybe some of Zeeshan. The writing is over the top masala drama/thriller with more importance given to series of events rather than the characters. The background score is repetitive at times, dull partially and continuous throughout the series which did not enhance the experience. I would say the episodes could have been made longer if they wanted us to grow with the characters.
Final verdict: maybe you should see what the word of mouth has been a chain of command for the topic of choices we prefer
