Projection of Sikh personality in the media

This is one of the most hotly debated topic in the Sikh diaspora across the globe. We must have a clear vision before proceeding with the article that it is always good to have a balanced and a neutral opinion not favoring any particular side.Thinking logically may prove to be practical for ourselves but a little blunt to the people and personalities I'm going to talk about, but it will be of immense worth to the intellectuals reading this article for having a concrete opinion.

Let  me start with a singer-turned-actor who has made a big name for himself in a short span. Diljit Dosanjh started his career as a singer who turned to acting later and made it big in show-business. However, even he may be a bit embarrassed to see his own videos from his first album "Pyaar daa Oora Aira"  released around 14-15 years back. After his success from "Jatt & Juliet" series, he won critical acclaim for "Punjab 1984" and has turned out to be a rare turbaned-celebrity of a very powerful stature with a fame acknowledged across various nations.

However, an improved projection of sikh identity in films cannot be attributed to celebrities and actors alone. All the people who protested against the buffoonery image of sikhs in films deserve the credit. One such organisation that fought for the better projection of sikhs in the media was APKF (Akaal Purakh Ki Fauj) with the leading face of 3-time member of SGPC- Jaswinder Singh Advocate.

APKF organised Mr. Singh International event four times in 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2012 where thousands of sikh boys participated and brought forward four winners i.e. Harpreet Singh, Parmeet Singh, Damandeep Singh and Tajinderpaul Singh respectively. Only Harpreet Singh successfully hunted the job of news-anchor in PTC and Damandeep Singh got a few endorsements of various brands. But none of the winners or participants could turn into a successful celebrity who could create fortunes through show-business. Though APKF claims that their main motive was religious and wanted a more dignified projection of sikhs in the media, the question remains that does APKF feel a sense of achievement after the success of Diljit Dosanjh ??

Besides Diljit, there are many turbaned sikhs in the industry who have adopted singing and acting as a full time profession. Inderjit Singh Nikku, Ravinder Garewal, Ranjit Bawa, Malkit Singh are a few good examples. Daler Mehandi is also a good example if we look beyond Punjabi film industry. Though the main issue with all these singers is that none of them are "Saabat-surat" sikhs (Sikhs with fully grown beards). Though, it is worth mentioning here about a celebrity singer who became famous when he was clean-shaven but later on grew his beard, started wearing a turban and became a fully baptized sikh. KS Makhan has set an example of its kind.

Though the frequency of his albums has drastically reduced after he became a fully baptized sikh, he never talked much about his experiences and feelings that made him change his mind about his way of life. Though, it is also worth mentioning that his entire family including his parents and children are fully baptized sikhs. Besides KS Makhan, I've personally noticed many people posting the photos of their personal transition on social networking websites. But the question that haunts my mind is that whether such transition is permanent or reversible over a period of time and if it is permanent, I'm sure KS Makhan must be feeling privileged or must be enjoying a privilege. Of course, change of heart and feelings cannot be termed as "Opportunism" but some conservatives even believe that Diljit would have a similar transition one day. God know why ?? If someone has become very successful in one way, why would he change the way he looks or why would he change his lifestyle?? But the way Diljit is strongly marching ahead, I don't expect any "Change-of-heart" ("Hirday-Parivartan") from him at least for the next 20-25 years.

Though both the phenomenons i.e. Conservatism and Modernity are at the loggerheads, most of the time, they have also shown a great sense of co-existence since the inception of the society. Sikhs should understand that both conservatism and modernity working in tandem can help us have a better projection of ourselves globally in the media as well as out of it, in real life. Even in the remotest of the remote village in Punjab, we can spot on these two phenomenons co-existing e.g. a clean shaven child of baptized parents living with them. Then why can't such people co-exist on public platforms ?? E.g. (Mark my words) Diljit will never be honored on a religious platform, even on the stage of Mr. Singh International (in case it is organised again). If it happens, I'll genuinely be the happiest person, because I believe in peace and co-existence. But I'm sure that fanaticism on one side and egomania on the other side, won't let me be happy so easily :-)

It is worth mentioning of another "Saabat-surat" sikh who dared to enter show-business as a leading actor and featured in a few films -Manpreet Singh Banga.

Though Manpreet gave a reasonable performance in Punjabi films like "Sat Sri Akaal", he totally disappeared from the screen after the film "Chheva'n Daryaa" and for sure, couldn't achieve fame and stardom like Diljit or anywhere close to him. Though he has been very active in promoting the sikh identity by organizing various pageants like "Mr. Singh India" which are definitely of a smaller stature and are less competitive than "Mr. Singh International". I can authorize this claim being a finalist of Mr. Singh International 2009 myself where I met the winner of "Mr. Singh India 2009" as a co-finalist and various other "saabat-surat" sikh boys pursuing modelling seriously.

Now, the gist of the article is that all the people whom I have mentioned as yet, though belong to a completely different sphere, have a common belief system and share a religious affiliation. But how can a media-savvy person forget about the contribution of non-sikh actors in projection of a sikh-personality on screen. The names are enough if I talk about Akshay Kumar's work in "Singh is King" and Farhaan Aktar's work in "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag".

Though "Singh is King" was highly criticized by the sikh hardliners on the projection of sikh-identity, "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag" didn't attract much controversy being a biopic. Something in common about both the films besides having a sikh character as a protagonist is that both these films crossed 100-crore mark at the box office. Now this is the critical issue that needs to be addressed w.r.t the Punjabi film industry.... Budget !!

Though I'm not a film-crazy person but even if someone having a good general knowledge keeps himself active while coming across the box-office collections of Punjabi films, Bollywood films and South Indian films, and does a comparative analysis of the same, the reality of Punjabi cinema would stare right in your face. The cost of the most expensive Punjabi film till date has been 14-15 crores and the total revenue (including overseas) has been around 50 crores. And now kindly consider the figures of Bollywood and Tollywood films where the input cost for some projects goes to a whooping 100-150 or even 200 crores and the total revenue collected sometimes touches 500 crores e.g. PK. These figures are worth mentioning from the perspective of development and industrialization. If we think that Punjabi film industry is very flourishing and lucrative and is a dream destination for many aspiring actors and artist, why is that the economics is leading us to a different conclusion ??

Where Bollywood mega-stars make huge fortunes from the films and endorsements of various brands, Punjabi mega-stars like Diljit are busy creating fortunes from their overseas shows by capitalizing on their singing talent. Though these celebrities (both Punjabi or Non-punjabi) are in no dearth of money or resources, let me say it firmly for one time that "Sikh identity" is an issue about which actors can do absolutely nothing accounting to their duplicity and superficiality. If we turn to politicians, they're already there to take credit of even what the actors are doing. I simply do not want to get into the technical detail about the constitutional amendment required to empower the "sikh identity" which has its vulnerability exposed in the age of media and Information Technology.