Comments on: Bollywood’s “Heroes” – More Sikh Characters on the Big Screen

By: Prabhu Singh Khalsa

Prabhu Singh Khalsa — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 23:22:53 +0000

“When they finally start portraying Sikhs in positive roles, some people complain as well.”

When did this happen? Because all I’ve seen from Bollywood is that Sikhs are either macho gangsters or village idiots?

By: Bal

Bal — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:37:14 +0000

However there is definitely some concern with the way the dastar/turban has been used in Bollywood as of late. It seems that the turban has become a fad in the film industry.

If Bollywood does not portray Sikhs at all, people complain, “Why does Bollywood ignore Sikhs”. When they finally start portraying Sikhs in positive roles, some people complain as well. It seems that some Sikhs never stop complaining.

By: FYI

FYI — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:25:26 +0000

Annie, Sunny Deol is not a Sikh he is a Arya Samaj Hindu… just check out any interview of Sunny and Bobby Deol, both say they are Hindus. Their father Dharmendra converted to Islam so he could have two wive. So lets not claim the Deols as any kind of Sikh.

By: Singh

Singh — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 02:05:22 +0000

Singh1 –

I hate to break it to you, but when a Sikh is portrayed in any media – people other than Sikhs also see it. That being said, if we choose to ignore misrepresentations then we are partly to blame for allowing ignorance to flourish.

Just for the record – I posted about this because I thought it was cool that, regardless of motive (money), an actor in Bollywood realized that smoking is un-Sikh-like and went so far as to voluntarily give up his freedom in observance of that.

p.s. Prabhu Singh – well said sir

By: Singh1

Singh1 — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:52:42 +0000

Bollywood and the whole South Asian celebrity / drama / television industry is, for the most part, a box of wild buffoons. They have no business in any Sikh’s life. Any Sikh who gives attention to them is wasting his/her time and setting him/herself up for disappointment. Our community is acting like fools, sheeps, slaves for even paying attention to Bollywood at all. The Khalsa is at a much, much higher level than this lame industry, and I am surprised to see so many posts on the Langar Hall about Bollywood.

By: baingandabhartha

baingandabhartha — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:40:08 +0000

I have no problem with a non-Sikh playing a Sikh-this IS theatre after all. Having said that, Singh is King is an asinine movie, the Sikh characters are still over the top, ‘loveable buffoons’. Akshay’s pagri is turned into a topi for most part. What did people expect though? That bollywood was suddenly going to treat ANY (not just Sikhs) one with an iota of accuracy or respect? They stereotype everyone. What irks me more is that people who are making these movies have close friends who are Sikh and they don’t observe them closely or do any real research?

Realize though that bollywood is under no obligation to present the ‘ideal’ Sikh. They are presenting a lot of what they see around them.

By: Prabhu Singh Khalsa

Prabhu Singh Khalsa — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:20:26 +0000

p.s. I watched the beginning few scenes of “Singh is Kinng” and it was pretty bad. None of the Sikhs looked like Sikhs with either fake or trimmed beards. They were all portrayed as drinking thugs. The next scene it was the classic village idiot Sikh. Then there was a song and dance at a wedding where a guy with cut hair was dancing around with a full length kirpan, using it like a cane, and then he tossed it away. I thought that was pretty bad. I’m sure it wasn’t a real shaster, but still it looked like a real kirpan. First of all to treat any shaster (weapon) in that manner and secondly to treat the bringer of grace (kirpan) which is also a sacred symbol to us, in that way, it was just very low primitive thinking and behavior. I’m sure if I finished the movie I’d see thousands of other ways in which they could possibly disrespect what’s sacred to us, but I didn’t feel like it.
I’m not mortally offended by all of it, because I’ve seen so-called Sikhs behave in the lowest of ways, but I can’t say I’m entertained by it or appreciate it in any manner.

By: rocco

rocco — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:59:26 +0000

I too have mixed feelings of the whole turbanization of Bollywood. Prabhu Singh makes some wonderful points regarding our identity it’s beauty.

After years of being on the fringe of Indian society, Sikh are now mainstream, front ¢er, and Bollywood wants to embrace them for one simple reason, $$$$$.Let’s be frank, Bollywood is not interested in promoting Sikh values or any kind of wholesome values.

Fact is Bollywood movies as a whole are pretty horrible and over 90% “flop”(don’t recoup there investment.) Alot of these movies are made not for indigenous Indians but for the NRI/NRP (non-residential Indian/Panjabi) market where they can make dollars/pounds rather than rupees. There are several hundred thousand Sikhs in the UK and Canada. The overseas market accounts for a large percentage of a film’s gross, thus Bollywood sees “creating Sikh characters” as a good money proposition.

By: Prabhu Singh Khalsa

Prabhu Singh Khalsa — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:35:10 +0000

Annie you are misunderstanding the meaning of this discussion. If you were a practicing Sikh you would realize that our identity (no matter who embodies it) is sacred to us. The turban and FULLY uncut hair is an identity that reminds us of our beloved Gurus and reminds us of God, because it is the natural form that God created humanity (with hair). Anybody, Sikh or not, who uses our identity to promote something that does not align with our values, we will find offensive at the most, and distasteful at the least. Just about every saint and sage that has graced this earth from Buddha to Jesus to Guru Nanak, etc. has mainted the God given image of man (i.e. with long hair upon the scalp and for men a beard on their face). Just think of the saints and sages of your religion and imagine if their image was used by people who followed the opposite of what they stood for. Wouldn’t that offend you? In that case Sikhs would stand with you instead of calling you intolerant and small-minded. There are many Sikhs in the world, if they want a Sikh character, what’s the problem with finding a Sikh actor?
If they were making the life story of Annie wouldn’t you prefer they at least ask you something about yourself and your beliefs before representing you in a way that offends you?

By: whatsinaname

whatsinaname — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 12:41:00 +0000

Annie you make a valid point. I’d still like to see sikhs representing themselves in this sort of media though. It’s so uncommon. Why?

Singh is King was meant to represent how ‘cool’ sikhs are… I have to say I don’t think I’ve seen a film which makes them look as uncool as this.

I can only speak for the Sikh guys I know but most of them are smart and intelligent beyond many non sikhs and they prefer not to be labelled as jokers / villiage idiots.

I don’t know what salmans dipiction will be. I hope it’s better than akshay kumars.