Recently AISSF, a Sikh organization, approached Giani Gurbachan Singh Jathedar of Sri Akal Takhat Sahib to seek his intervention in this matter. Giani Gurbachan Singh was urged to ensure that movie is not released unless objectionable portions are removed from it.
Advocate Navkiran Singh and AISSF had objected to some dialogue released in tailor of the movie, that was officially released on video sharing website named YouTube.
Dialogues like “If Sikhs weren’t there then who would have invented abuses like teri maa di – teri behan di?” and “If Sardar weren’t there, then on whom would the jokes be made” are very demeaning and shows up Sikhs in bad light.
Now another controversial matter related to this movie has come into light. Ajay Devgan, who is playing lead role as a Sikh/Sardar, is shown to have craved Hindu god Shiv’s tattoo on his chest. Sikhs believe in one omni-present & omni-potent Akal Purakh and Devi pooja or belief in various gods or goddesses is forbidden in Sikh religion.
Sikhs do not believe in enforcing their beliefs on others forcibly or fraudulently. Sikh way of life accepts and respects the otherness of the others and this fact is evident from a recent incident when on 20th of August (2012) Sikhs living in Uttrakhand opened the doors of Sikh Gurudwara (central place of worship) for believers of Islam to perform Eid prayers as it was heavily raining outside and it was not possible for local Muslims to perform prayers in open ground.
At the same time Sikhs want no interference from others in matters of their belief.
But in India Sikhs are made to experience a variety of attacks on their identity and ideology/belief. Indian constitution clubs Sikhs with Hindus. Hindu personal law is enforced on Sikhs. RSS and other hindutva forces also make false propagation that Sikhs were part of Hindus.
In this view Ajay Devgan’s Shiv tattoo is viewed as an attempted attack on distinctiveness of Sikh identity.
It is worth mentioning here that Indian media and Bollywood has a history of making such attempt. But it is also notable that such attempts spark strong wave of criticism and opposition from the Sikh circles. Objections to Hindi movie “bole so nihal” led to large scale demonstrations and disturbances in Punjab. The movie was run forcibly and such attitude is believed to have led to bomb blasts in a Cinema hall in Delhi where the movie was being showed. Such an act was condemnable but it is widely believed that arrogant attitude adopted by concerned parties such as producers & promoters of the movie, civil administration and the concerned governments had led to emergence of such a situations, and further that such a tragedy was avoidable.
According to sources Advocate Navkiran Singh is preparing to initiate legal proceedings against producer of movie “Son of Sardar”, as Ajay Devgn did not bother to reply the legal notice issued by Advo Navkiran Singh.
The main contention of those objecting on some portions of the movie is that “entertainment” should not be taken as an excuse to hurt the feelings of any community.
It is advisable to listen to the voices of concern and remove unwanted objectionable portions from the movie.