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Turban
image in Bollywood film upsets Sikh people
Jagmohan Singh
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Bollywood has done it again. As if the films in the genre of Jo
Bole So Nihal (which despite the protests of the Sikh community,
continues to be shown on the small screen on different channels)
were not enough, films like Love Aaj Kal, Raja Hindustani,
Mohabattein, Badal, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and others continue to
take Sikhs non-seriously. Sikh anger is growing, but neither
Bollywood producers and directors nor the Central Board of Film
Certification has taken this with the seriousness it deserves.
The writer of open letters makes a fervent appeal to the leading
film production company of Bollywood –Yashraj Films and the
Censor Board to take immediate action in consultation with Sikh
bodies.
Copies of this letter have been sent to
Yashraj Films by email at
helpdesk@yashrajfilms.com and
to Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting at
jsp.inb@sb.nic.in. As the
Central Board of Film Certification of India website is not
working, a copy of the letter has been sent by mail. Readers are
encouraged to write similar letters at both the addresses to
ensure corrective action.
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The Directors
Yashraj Films Private Limited
5, Shah Industrial Estate
Veera Desai Road
Andheri (West), Mumbai 400 053
Gentlemen:
Greetings in the
Name of God, the light of every soul.
 As
if male actors were not enough to mock at the Sikhs, you now have a
female actor to tar the Sikh image. Scenes and sequences from your
latest movie seem to suggest that you are doing with a vengeance. I
have browsed through whatever is available online on the internet
and on television regarding your forthcoming movie -Dil Bole
Hadippa and I have to say that the use of imagery and icons
has been done cursorily and derogatorily. It is highly offensive to
the devout for those who hold the religious way of life and
tradition as a higher ideal.
Bollywood has been
using names of God and script about God in a rather agnostic or
atheistic manner and all this has been only “tolerable” not
“acceptable and tolerable”. For Bollywood, with respect to Sikhs,
freedom of expression has been license to poke fun at their attire,
their intellect, their language and their community consciousness.
I have a hunch that
there may be many more scenes in the whole movie which may raise our
hackles and annoy us, but from what I have seen so far, I take
strong objection to the following:
1.
The use of the Sikh small turban –Keski as a dot on
top of the alphabet i of Hadippa, both in the posters as well
as the promo is simply shocking. The manner in which instead of the
dot, the Keski –the small turban comes and rests on the alphabet
I in an animated manner is disgusting. Do the producer
and the director and all those involved with the movie remember the
dot busters of
USA of the late
eighties and earlier nineties? Has Yashraj films and the promotional
companies taken into account the impact of such imagery? If not, how
does it propose to address this prior to the release of the movie?
Is it a sinister move to make Sikhs the target as were the dot
wearing Indians in the US at that point of time? To do this in a
year, when Sikhs are commemorating the daylight murder of more than
3000 Sikhs in the capital city of Delhi is rubbing salt on our
wounds. Sikhs, particularly young Sikhs are seething with anger at
this kind of portrayal, and are highly perturbed.
2.
The lead actor Rani Mukherjee is casually dressed
as a Sikh and her whole character is stereotyping of the Sikh image
so far held by Bollywood –“strong but foolish”. Why is this so? Do
the makers of the movie realize that it is a Sikh face that is
running
India?
3.
The promotional video of the movie on the internet
very caustically says that Dil Bole Hadippa is “a tale of
turbans, twists and tricks”. Could you not think of a more perverse
way to trivialize the Sikh turban?
4.
The interspersion of the display of Gatka with
semi-nude Indian actresses during song sequences is nothing but
blasphemy.
This is all
intolerable. Under the aegis of the Film Certification and Censor
Board, you should approach the Sikh community organizations in
Mumbai and elsewhere and take all the necessary steps to remove
offensive posters and scenes before the release of the movie on
18 September 2009.
Before another Sikh
character, Rocket Singh, also of Yashraj Films hits us in the face;
it is time to ensure that the sixer of the female actor does not hit
the Sikh community badly, for if it does, it is likely to boomerang
on you as well.
I pray that better
sense will prevail and immediate corrective action will be taken. I
also hope that this will enable others in Bollywood to be more
careful and learned while portraying Sikh characters.
Jagmohan Singh
Editor-in-Chief, World Sikh News
www.worldsikhnews.com
Jagmohan Singh
is the editor of World Sikh News. He may be contacted at jswsneditor@gmail.com
24
August 2009
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