In an Open Letter to Jasjeet Singh -the producer of The Black Prince, WSN Editor calls the film, “the Sikh movie of the century” and urges every Sikh on planet earth to be part of the enthralling Anglo-Sikh experience, the movie so brilliantly provides and touches your heart and soul.

Dear Jasjeet Singh Ji Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh! There could not have been a more befitting, apt and universal reply than producing The Black Prince to undo the decades of misinformation and disinformation about the Sikhs over the last century. The Black Prince is “the Sikh movie of the century”.

After the eclipse of the Sikh empire in 1849, after nearly a century and a half, by producing this movie you have enabled the whole Sikh community to retrieve their honour and past.

Every time I see the trailer of The Black Prince I get goosebumps all over my body as if I am also travelling in time with the characters of the movie, especially with Maharaja Duleep Singh. As Duleep Singh yearns for his kingdom, so do I; what was a little personal to him, was our Sikh national legacy and heritage – a legacy built by the Sikhs in less than 550 years of their existence on this planet.

“Every time I see the trailer of The Black Prince I get goosebumps all over my body as if I am also travelling in time with the characters of the movie, especially with Maharaja Duleep Singh. As Duleep Singh yearns for his kingdom, so do I; what was a little personal to him, was our Sikh national legacy and heritage – a legacy built by the Sikhs in less than 550 years of their existence on this planet.”

I can already envisage that this Hollywood movie will do and undo many things. It will enhance the prestige of the Sikhs as a people and undo the sickening imagery of Sikhs in Bollywood. I clearly envision that there will be no need for Sikh parents in homeland Punjab to tell their children about the who’s who of the Sikh nation and the role of the British. It will very easy for Sikh Diaspora parents to familiarise their children with their legacy in the English language by seeing the movie and holding seminars and discussions regarding the movie.

In homeland Punjab, I would like you to generate so much interest that the movie should give the Bollywood copycat Punjabi cinema a run for its money.

The mother of Maharaja Duleep Singh -Maharani Jind Kaur characterised by lead actor Shabana Azmi was surprised to know the true story of her character and that of the Sikh kingdom. Through her, the film world, the Indian politicians, the civil libertarians, the doubting Indian media will know that Sikhs are the third nation (the two being the Hindus and the Muslims), who too had their own self-rule and but for the chicanery and deceit of the British -who ruled the waves, but had to kidnap a ten-year-old prince to annex the Sikh kingdom.

“ The Black Prince needs to enter the veins of the Sikhs.  It needs to enter every Sikh household.  The first all-Sikh treat from Hollywood, the first full feature Hollywood film on a Sikh theme, the first movie available worldwide in Punjabi, English and Hindi needs to become the first movie in a revolution which will take the perceptions of Sikhs to new heights.”

The Black Prince needs to enter the veins of the Sikhs.  It needs to enter every Sikh household.  The first all-Sikh treat from Hollywood, the first full feature Hollywood film on a Sikh theme, the first movie available worldwide in Punjabi, English and Hindi needs to become the first movie in a revolution which will take the perceptions of Sikhs to new heights.

I am certain that Sikh political representatives, Sikh nationalists and Sikh historians will not have to labour to tell diplomats and political leaders that those seeking a Sikh state in homeland Punjab are not thinking of a theocratic state but a state based on the brilliant secular ideals and practice of Maharaja Duleep Singh’s father -Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

I am ecstatic that Satinder Singh Sartaj, Shabana Azmi and the director Kavi Raaj have done so well that this maiden venture has received accolades at seven film festivals from Los Angeles to Toronto  and from Birmingham and Manchester.

I am doubly happy as you have been associated with the World Sikh News too in the past. I wish, hope and pray that The Black Prince will take the essence of the Sikh ethos into people’s’ hearts. I am sure that this is the beginning of a new dawn for Sikh cinema.

For us at the World Sikh News, it is a mission to take The Black Prince into homes of Sikhs and friends of Sikhs.

Yours truly
Jagmohan Singh
Editor, The World Sikh News