The dilemma to open more schools and hos­pi­tals and cre­ate funds for the poor­est and the ever-in­creas­ing mid­dle class amongst the com­mu­nity in­stead of huge, mon­u­men­tal Gur­d­waras has been ag­i­tat­ing the Sikhs for long. Akaal Pro­duc­tions maiden ven­ture ‘Dark Wis­dom’ uses a sim­ple story to con­vey the mes­sage and pro­vide an al­ter­na­tive. Co-pro­duced by Man­meet Singh and ably di­rected by Har­jeet Singh Oberoi, the short movie ques­tions the giver and re­ceiver of Das­vandh for mis­placed util­i­sa­tion of com­mu­nity re­sources. The 20-minute short film emo­tion­ally re­ver­ber­ates with the viewer as many amongst Sikhs are ag­i­tated with this ques­tion.

CAN GUR­D­WARA BUILD­INGS BE SIM­PLE WITH with more em­pha­sis and out­lay on the prop­a­ga­tion of teach­ings of Guru Granth Sahib, Sikh na­tion-build­ing and nur­tur­ing Sikh hu­man cap­i­tal and a place which is what a Guru-duar should stand for? Will you con­tribute your tithe -Das­vandh to the build­ing or re­con­struc­tion of Gur­d­waras alone or to other causes as well? Are our pri­or­i­ties in or­der?

The ex­pres­sive short film ‘Dark Wis­dom’ forth­rightly poses the lin­ear fo­cus of the es­tab­lished politico-re­li­gious lead­ers of the com­mu­nity and the dilemma of the mid­dle and rich sec­tions of the Sikh com­mu­nity.

The pro­tag­o­nist of the story is ac­tor Har­jit Singh Basra play­ing the char­ac­ter of a young and rich painter Ra­jbir Singh -who de­sires to con­tribute ru­pees 50 mil­lion for a Gur­d­wara Sahib, till he is con­fronted with the soul of child artiste Jas­nam Singh play­ing the role of Japji.

When Ra­jbir Singh meets the Gur­d­wara pres­i­dent and ar­chi­tect of the new build­ing of the Gur­d­wara, they are pas­sion­ate about build­ing the most beau­ti­ful and the best Gur­d­wara in Delhi. This echoes such sim­i­lar talk by most Gur­d­wara lead­ers across the Sikh world.

A re­born Japji calls Ra­jbir Singh as Agyan Singh -a man who is not wise. A very soft and sooth­ing but strong talk be­tween Japji Singh Ra­jbir Singh is the soul of the movie which high­lights the thought process con­fronting the Sikh com­mu­nity.

Japji, nar­rates his past life and how his fa­ther could not cough-up the large amount of money needed for his heart op­er­a­tion with no as­sis­tance from any of the Sikh sources, in­clud­ing noth­ing from the rich and fa­mous Ra­jbir Singh. The en­tire con­ver­sa­tion shakes up Ra­jbir Singh from within. It gives him a new in­sight and he starts to think out of the box.  Gyan -wis­dom dawns on him.

Does Agyan Singh lis­ten to the ad­vice of the soul of Japji? Spare 20 min­utes to view this short film pro­duced by Man­meet Singh of Akal Pu­rakh Ki Fauj, New Delhi.  True to its name “Dark Wis­dom” is a not to be missed wis­dom take on the dark side of our ac­tions in re­la­tion to the teach­ings of the Gur­bani.

“Can Sikhism be preached only from mon­u­men­tal Gur­d­waras alone? If there are no Sikhs left, whom will the Gur­d­waras preach to? Will we con­tinue to be ‘Agyan’ Singhs -blokes with­out a sense of need and pri­or­ity? When will we adopt the core prin­ci­ples of our Gu­rus? Will Dark Wis­dom come to the res­cue of the com­mu­nity?

Jas­nam Singh as Japji has been very good with the di­a­logue de­liv­ery and Harry Singh Basra as Ra­jbir has been good with his act­ing. KP Singh, the fa­ther of Japji looks more com­posed with his acts and emo­tions.

The Akal Pu­rakh Ki Fauj has to be ap­plauded for ded­i­cat­ing the short movie to young so­cial ac­tivist Gur­preet Singh, who was killed out­side AI­IMS hos­pi­tal only for ask­ing some­one to stop smok­ing.

An ex­pres­sive short film that pre­sents the cur­rent state of af­fairs of the work­ing and mind­set of the Sikhs, par­tic­u­larly the rich and the politico-re­li­gious lead­ers of the com­mu­nity.

The sto­ry­line is cliché-rid­den, yet the sim­ple di­a­logues touch the view­ers. The sites cho­sen to be filmed for Gur­d­wara premises could have been a bet­ter place.  The pace of the story is slow but the mu­sic is sooth­ing.

Dur­ing the cur­rent Covid-19 pan­demic, Gur­d­waras -big and small have held aloft the spirit of ser­vice of Sikhs across the world and ful­filled their roles in a re­mark­able man­ner. Yet, many ques­tions raised by Japji in the film should haunt you.

The Akal Pu­rakh Ki Fauj has to be ap­plauded for ded­i­cat­ing the short movie to young so­cial ac­tivist Gur­preet Singh, who was killed out­side AI­IMS hos­pi­tal only for ask­ing some­one to stop smok­ing.

Next time, you have money and en­ergy to con­tribute, get an­swers to what Japji asks in Dark Wis­dom, “Can Sikhism be preached only from mon­u­men­tal Gur­d­waras alone? If there are no Sikhs left, whom will the Gur­d­waras preach to? Will we con­tinue to be ‘Agyan’ Singhs -blokes with­out a sense of need and pri­or­ity? When will we adopt the core prin­ci­ples of our Gu­rus? Will Dark Wis­dom come to the res­cue of the com­mu­nity?

While it is time to think and worry too, Japji’s soul tells us, “Gur­mukh kade pare­shaan nahi hunde -fol­low­ers of teach­ings of God and Guru are never a wor­ried lot.

Gurmeet Singh is a so­cial, re­li­gious and hu­man rights ac­tivist based in Delhi. He takes a keen in­ter­est in Sikh af­fairs and keeps abreast of Pan­thic de­vel­op­ments.