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Yashraj Films relents on Dil
Bole Hadippa
Posters
and Promos changed after Sikhs protest
Jagmohan Singh
  World Sikh News
set the ball rolling by writing an open letter to Yashraj Films
pointing out the manner in which the Sikh character has been
depicted by Rani Mukherjee and also how the use of the small Sikh
turban as a dot on the i has been grossly misused in the
posters and promos.
Sikhs in Mumbai
and particularly the Punjabi Culture and Heritage Board also took up
the matter with the producers as a result of which there is a change
in the promos and posters on the film’s website and there is an
assurance that all such changes will be affected across the country
prior to the release of the film.
The response of
the film industry will ensure that those concerned with the
portrayal of Sikhs in Bollywood will be more pro-active and take up
the matters at the pre-production stage with the scriptwriters and
producers so that the necessity to agitate and protest does not
arise. The Censor Board, which continues to act a mute spectator,
needs to reorient itself more than ever before. Like in the past
there is an urgent need to have a Sikh, who understands Sikhs and
Sikhism as a member of the Censor Board. A couple of years ago, the
Board had made a promise to look into such a demand but since has
maintained a stoic silence on the matter. Sikhs in Mumbai should
take up the matter again, with the Censor Board as well as with the
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
While we are
satisfied with this step, the concern regarding Sikh portrayal is
far from over.
While checking
whether Yashraj Films has delivered fully on their promises to the
Sikhs, I came across another sinister promo of the movie, which has
the artiste Rakhi Sawant playing the character of a dancing girl
with the name Shano Amritsari. As if the look of Rani Mukherjee
mocking at the Sikhs, in the movie was not enough, to see this was
disgusting to say the least. How far will Bolllywood go in
denigrating everything dear to the Sikhs? Has anyone seen such
female dancers in
Punjab
and that too with a name after the holiest city of the Sikhs? How
can the film industry be so naïve? Or are they?
Well, eternal
vigilance is the price of liberty and that is what the Sikhs need,
as Bollywood is unlikely to mend its ways unless made to do so.
2
September 2009
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