Bol­ly­wood does it again. Show­ing gross in­sen­si­tiv­ity, a non-Sikh char­ac­ter has been de­picted wear­ing the Kir­pan, while drink­ing al­co­hol and teas­ing a film hero­ine, as seen in a teaser re­leased on­line from the movie Yaariyan2. The Sikh com­mu­nity ex­presses out­rage and ques­tions the film­mak­ers and the Cen­tral Board of Film Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion for this ab­surd and blas­phe­mous por­trayal. WSN re­ports

The up­com­ing Bol­ly­wood film Yaariyan2 by T-Se­ries, has sparked a ma­jor con­tro­versy even be­fore its re­lease, fac­ing se­vere back­lash from the Sikh com­mu­nity for its por­trayal of the sa­cred Kir­pan. Singh Sabha Mum­bai, a promi­nent Sikh or­ga­ni­za­tion, has for­mally writ­ten to the Cen­tral Board of Film Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion (CBFC), de­mand­ing the im­me­di­ate re­vo­ca­tion of the film’s clear­ance. The SGPC has tweeted its con­cern and so­cial me­dia is agog with warn­ings to the film­mak­ers of its screen­ing in its pre­sent form.

It may be noted that Singh Sabha Mum­bai and many other or­ga­ni­za­tions have in the past raised the ques­tion of in­clud­ing rep­re­sen­ta­tives of mi­nor­ity com­mu­ni­ties, so that the sen­si­tiv­i­ties of the com­mu­ni­ties are ap­pro­pri­ately ad­dressed. It seems it is falling on deaf ears.

“A Gross In­sult to the Sikh Com­mu­nity”

Man­mo­han Singh, Pres­i­dent of Singh Sabha Mum­bai, termed the por­trayal as “blas­phe­mous and deeply of­fen­sive.” He stated, “The Kir­pan is not a mere or­na­ment; it is an in­te­gral part of the Sikh re­li­gion. The por­trayal of a non-Sikh char­ac­ter wear­ing a Kir­pan in Yaariyan 2 is not only in­ac­cu­rate but also out­right blas­phe­mous. This makes us ques­tion the in­tegrity and com­mit­ment of the CBFC to­wards re­spect­ing re­li­gious sen­ti­ments and the cul­tural di­ver­sity of In­dia.”

Voices from So­cial Me­dia

Har­jin­der Singh Kukreja, a so­cial me­dia in­flu­encer and Sikh world trav­eler, also ex­pressed his con­cerns: “Wear­ing the Kir­pan while singing and pro­mot­ing al­co­hol is not just in­sen­si­tive but an af­front to the core prin­ci­ples of Sikhism. It’s time film­mak­ers ed­u­cate them­selves about the re­li­gions and cul­tures they choose to de­pict in their works.”

Deeply dis­ap­pointed & con­cerned about mis­rep­re­sen­ta­tion of the Kir­pan in the new song ‘Saure Ghar’ from the up­com­ing Hindi movie Yaariyan 2. For Sikhs, the Kir­pan is not a fash­ion ac­ces­sory or a prop for sto­ry­telling; it is an ar­ti­cle of faith ac­quired only af­ter be­ing ini­ti­ated… pic.twit­ter.com/​2GB­Wgu­VEWl

— Har­jin­der Singh Kukreja (@Singh­Lions) Au­gust 27, 2023

Shi­ro­mani Gur­d­wara Pra­band­hak Com­mit­tee Weighs In

The Shi­ro­mani Gur­d­wara Pra­band­hak Com­mit­tee (SGPC) has is­sued a stern warn­ing against the film­mak­ers. Ac­cord­ing to their tweet, “This has se­ri­ously hurt the re­li­gious sen­ti­ments of the Sikh com­mu­nity across the globe. Only an ini­ti­ated Sikh has the right to wear a Kir­pan as per the Sikh Code of Con­duct. This video must be taken down im­me­di­ately.”

We raise our strong ob­jec­tion to these vi­su­als filmed, pub­lished in ‘Saure Ghar’ song of ‘Yaariyan 2’ film di­rected by Rad­hika Rao & Vinay Sapru @SapruAn­dRao, as ac­tor is seen wear­ing Sikh Kakaar (sym­bol of Sikh faith) Kir­pan in a highly ob­jec­tion­able man­ner which can­not be… pic.twit­ter.com/​FZX­ooN­M­soH

— Shi­ro­mani Gur­d­wara Par­band­hak Com­mit­tee (@SG­P­CAm­rit­sar) Au­gust 28, 2023

So­cial me­dia is re­plete with posts where Sikh ac­tivists and even or­di­nary Sikhs have taken um­brage at the por­trayal. They have cau­tioned the film mak­ers and dis­trib­u­tors of es­ca­lat­ing protests and po­ten­tial le­gal ac­tions if their de­mands are not met im­me­di­ately.

Singh Sabha Mum­bai has urged both the CBFC and the film­mak­ers to take prompt ac­tion in re­mov­ing the of­fend­ing scenes to avoid hurt­ing the re­li­gious sen­ti­ments of mil­lions of Sikhs around the globe.

A Pat­tern of In­sen­si­tiv­ity

The con­tro­versy adds to a grow­ing list of films and me­dia pro­duc­tions that have been in­sen­si­tive to re­li­gious and cul­tural sym­bols, caus­ing pub­lic out­rage. Com­mu­nity rep­re­sen­ta­tives have stressed the ur­gent need for more re­spon­si­ble film­mak­ing that re­spects the di­verse cul­tural fab­ric.

Ur­gent Ap­peal to CBFC and Min­istry of In­for­ma­tion

The SGPC has ap­pealed to var­i­ous gov­ern­ment bod­ies and dig­i­tal plat­forms not to screen the film or the song in its cur­rent form. They have also re­quested im­me­di­ate ac­tion from the Min­istry of In­for­ma­tion and Broad­cast­ing and the Min­istry of Elec­tron­ics and In­for­ma­tion Tech­nol­ogy.

As the sched­uled re­lease date of Oc­to­ber 20 ap­proaches, the Sikh com­mu­nity waits in an­tic­i­pa­tion for the au­thor­i­ties and the film­mak­ers to make the right de­ci­sion, hop­ing they take the nec­es­sary steps to ad­dress this grave is­sue.

Will Bol­ly­wood rise from its hate cam­paign against Sikhs, every now and then?