Sadda Haq, a much awaited Punjabi movie hit cinemas across the globe today. Sadda Haq is an attempt to tell the untold story of painful days of post-1984 to mid-1990s on the cinema screen. The movie’s plot is based on events of a period that was never so openly addressed in Indian cinema or by the Indian media.
Indian media avoids any open discussion of related to this period. Most of the time media limits the “frame” of discussions in order to oust the scope of telling what remains untold till date.
Last June when Sikhs decided to raise a memorial for the martyrs of June 1984 (Saka 84); Indian media, politicians, columnists and journalists raised a huge cry against this move. Many TV channels conducted debates on the issue of memorial but tried to restrict the scope of discussions only to the memorial. In a TV debate conducted by a prominent Punjabi channel the anchor tried to avoid any discussion related to the true causes of the June 1984 attack on Sikh shrines by Indian army, by saying that the issue at hand was related to memorial only and any discussion of the said nature would be out of the scope of the issue at hand.
Sadda Haq movie’s plot is placed some where in the post 1984 and mid-1990s period when Sikh youth had taken up arms out of existential concerns, and as a last resort. It’s a known fact that the arms of Sikh youth were directed against the authority of Indian state but it must be remembered that the arms were resorted to in a situation when the Sikhs were facing continues attacks by the state and their existence/survival was under question.
Recently, during a special screening of Sadda Haq movie at Amritsar, Bhai Ranjit Singh Kukki, a former Sikh militant, said that when they took up arms (after 1984) they had image of damaged Darbar Sahib before their eyes.
Bhai Ranjit Singh Kukki, who was a brilliant student of science and was scheduled to pursue his Ph. D. in America when Indian army attacked Sri Darbar Sahib (Amritsar) in June 1984, had travelled to Delhi soon after the November 1984 massacre of the Sikhs and witnessed the painful situation of the survivors of the anti-Sikh violence.
Bhai Kukki said that their violence was neither offensive, nor was directed against any particular community.
(At that time) “[o]ur faith, and the our existence was in danger” (that’s why we had to take up arms), he added.
But these aspects seldom find any mention in media coverage or debates on Indian TV channels. Indian media keeps itself engaged in promoting and popularizing the state’s ideology and perspective.
The story of Indian cinema is no different than that of the Indian media. There are rare instances where the film-makers dared to present the reality of the painful events. Gulzar in his musical blaster Maachis had presented the plight of the people of Punjab who had suffered extensive torture at the hands of Punjab police. The movie was opposed by a former DGP of Punjab police who had forwarded the ‘logic’ that this movie could lower the ‘confidence’ of the security forces. On the other hand there are plenty of moives produced by Indian film makers that advocate fake encounters, custodial torture and extra-judicial killings; and present abuses as the only ‘solution’ against the “anti-nationals”.
Cinema isn’t a mean of mere entertainment. It affects the the social-psychology besides having strong impact on the psychology of the viewer at individual level. It’s like a process of “inception” and the ideas are embedded in the minds of viewers through repeated attempts.
When viewed in the light of above discussion Sadda Haq Punjabi movie has it’s own significance. As mentioned earlier the movie is based on the post-1984 to mid-1990s events in Punjab. This period is commonly termed as “dark/black days” by Indian scholars, journalists, politicians and the media. While terming this period as “black days” an attempt is made to construct an impression that those days were ‘black’ because of Sikh militant movements. Impression thus constructed aims at attributing all the violence and violations to the Sikh militants and blocks the scope of any discussion regarding the causes behind the rise of the militancy.
But the Sadda Haq Punjabi movie attempts to present the untold story of the concerned period. It tends to create an alternative impression and presents an explanation why those days were “black/dark”? It tends to present the pain suffered by the people of Punjab at the hands of Indian security forces or the Punjab police that had unleashed the region of terror on civilian Sikh population besides the families of the Sikh militants. It gives an impression that in relaity these atrocities could only be the viable and justifiable basis of terming that period as ‘black/dark days.
Truly, the days of torture and atrocities, fake encounters, custodial killings and enforced disappearances; the days when heads counts of persons killed in fake encounters was the considered as the qualification for promotion in police department; the days when police stations were turned into butcher-shops where limbs of civilians were torn as a daily affair, were the “blcak/dark days”.
No one could deny that the Hindus of Punjab have many reservations regarding the events of the period and the Sadda Haq movie has attempted to address the concerns of the Hindu community as well.
According to Dinesh Sood, a co-producer of the movie, being a Hindu he had many apprehensions in his mind before making this movie. “There were many such things to my mind before we started the movie” Dinesh Sood said in a recent radio interview.
He said that: ‘This movie was a dream project of Kuljinder Sidhu; but being a Hindu there were many questions to my mind that – why such a movie should be produced?’
‘My close friends forbade me (from making the movie) saying that – we all had seen that during that period many incidents were there’ he added.
He told that he held long discussions with Kuljinder Sidhu in this regard for over two years.
‘All my questions were adequately answered by Kuljinder; that – what was the truth of those incidents; and – what were the demands behind the movement and – how the movement was defamed and – what was the role of the government’ Dinesh Sood added.
He further said: ‘I used to listen his arguments carefully and discussed it with my people but they did not believe’.
‘Then I involved myself in research; started reading books and I realized that he (Kuljinder) was right; and there were misconceptions in minds of our people and the media did not present the reality, rather it was instrumental in creating misconceptions in the minds of the people’.
‘Then I realized that this movie must be made so that the people could know the reality’.
He said that the apprehensions of the Hindu community have been addressed in the movie and this movie would clear many misconceptions about the said period.
Sadda Haq has addressed all these aspects in a sensitive manner and tends to present the true nature events before the viewer with least prejudice and prompts the viewer to consider the whole matter and frame his/her own judgement about the said period.
The movie has a strong artistic aspect also. This is perhaps the first attempt in Punjabi film industry to produce a realistic cinema. Where as in most of the recent Punjabi movie songs had no real relevance to the story’s progress; this movie is an exception from this aspect. Some songs of Sadda Haq have a situational move – i.e. the story progresses with the songs and songs do not pause the story.
Though the movie is based on a theme of violence; it conveys a message that the violence was situational and was adopted as a last resort. It brings the state policies under question because these policies were instrumental in creating a situation where the only option for survival was – the arms.
As regards the use of weapons there is a clear direction by Tenth Sikh Guru, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji: “Chu Kar Az Hameh Heel-te Dar Guzasht, Halal Ast Burdan b-shamshir-e Dast” – All other modes of redressing a wrong being failed, Raising a sword is pious and just. The Sikh youths that took up arms after 1984 were of the view that no other mode was left behind to protect their faith as well as physical existence of their people, except to take up arms and root-up the offensive regime. It’s for the first time that this view would be screened in cinema halls.
In an attempt to explain the movement the lead character of the movie says the movement was not against any community, rather it was against the system that had turned offensive against it’s own people. It was a struggle to secure the rightful rights of the people, that were encroached upon the system. Violence was situational and in response of challenges posed by the system.
The lead character of the movie expresses regret that they were not able to win this struggle. But he expresses a hope that the new generation would take up the struggle to secure people’s rights, and would build a mass-movement using modern means of education and awareness such as internet and mass-media.
The movie is a welcome attempt to screen realistic cinema in Punjabi.