Hyderabad: Actor-politician Kangana Ranaut's film Emergency has come under scrutiny, with the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) issuing a legal notice on Tuesday to the makers for allegedly misrepresenting the character and historical significance of the Sikh community. Additionally, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking a ban on the film's release.
Written, directed, and bankrolled by Ranaut, Emergency is slated for release on September 6. The movie is inspired by the life of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, with its trailer dropped on social media platforms on August 14.
Two Amritdhari (baptised) Sikhs have approached the high court, asserting that the trailer presents inaccurate historical representations. They argue that it appears the film fosters negative sentiments towards the Sikh community and seeks to undermine the social unity of Punjab. The petition emphasises that the trailer reveals scenes where people from the Sikh community are depicted as indiscriminately firing weapons at Hindus, purportedly due to religious intolerance, including an incident involving a bus.
Moreover, they stated that the trailer includes a portrayal of Sant ji (Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale) supposedly making a pact with leaders of the Congress party, where he is shown as assuring them votes in the upcoming General Elections. The petitioners contend that this depiction lacks any historical accuracy and serves merely as a tactic to tarnish the image of the Sikh community and its religious institutions.
According to the petition, the trailer 'deliberately misrepresents' the identity of Sikhs while creating an 'anti-Sikh narrative'. The people filing the petition argue that the film can 'destroy the social fabric of the entire nation', especially in Punjab. They are calling upon the Centre and the Central Board of Film Certification to revoke the certification granted for its public release. Additionally, they are urging the Punjab Director General of Police to initiate a First Information Report (FIR) against Ranaut and other collaborators linked to the film, in accordance with the provisions of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and the Cinematograph Act.
A while ago, the legal advisor for the SGPC, advocate Amanbir Singh Siali, issued a legal notice urging the filmmakers to eliminate scenes that portray anti-Sikh sentiments. This notice also requested the withdrawal of the film's trailer and demanded a formal apology addressed to the Sikh community.
The SGPC pointed to a specific line from the trailer: "Tohadi party nu vote chahide ne ate sanu chahida hai Khalistan," which translates to "Your party needs votes and what we want is Khalistan." They expressed concern over visuals in the trailer where people dressed in Sikh attire are shown using assault rifles against civilians. The notice emphasised that there is no documentation or evidence to support the claim that Bhindranwale ever made such statements, nor is there any historical record in Sikhism that hints at such conversations.
According to the SGPC's notice, the film poses a significant risk of offending Sikh emotions and misrepresenting Sikhism. It claimed that the movie depicts a "dark era" in Sikh history, not just in Punjab but on a global scale. The SGPC stated that the aforementioned scene in the trailer is particularly objectionable for misrepresenting Sikhs as separatists, which they contend is completely false, baseless, and devoid of truth. They asserted that neither Sant Jarnail Singh nor any other figures from the Sikh community ever advocated for Khalistan. The notice describes this portrayal as a deliberate attempt to defame Sikhs and generate an anti-Sikh discourse.
Furthermore, the notice warned that the film poses a serious threat to the harmony among citizens and could heighten tensions between various religious groups in the nation. It labelled the film as highly objectionable for its derogatory representation of the Sikh community and held the filmmakers fully accountable for this grave offence that could incite animosity towards Sikhs.
SGPC secretary Partap Singh stated that the notice was issued based on directives from SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami. He explained that following the trailer's release, numerous troubling scenes emerged that have profoundly affected the sentiments of the Sikh community. Singh added that there seems to be an attempt to depict Sikhs as terrorists and separatists, which he deemed wholly unacceptable and far from reality. On August 21, both the Akal Takht, the chief temporal authority for Sikhs, and the SGPC called for an immediate ban on the film.
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