Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, on Monday imposed a ban on the release of controversial movie ‘Nanak Shah Fakir’.
“We have imposed a complete ban on controversial film Nanak Shah Fakir. The film cannot be released,” Akal Takht Jathedar Gyani Gurbachan Singh told over phone from Amritsar.
“Showing Sikh gurus in living form cannot be permitted. And the issue relating to human beings playing the role of the Guru and his family has not been addressed,” he said. The movie is slated for release on April 13.
The Akal Takht jathedar said a Sikh Censor Board will be constituted and it will be made mandatory for filmmakers to seek approval from the board before they start preparing any script on a subject pertaining to Sikhs and their religion.
The Sikh Censor Board will have members from the SGPC, Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee, Sant Samaj, among others, Gyani Gurbachan said.
Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex religious body of the Sikhs, had constituted a second sub-committee to review the movie, a week before its slated release.
The SGPC had constituted the first sub-committee of eight members in 2015 when the movie was to be released initially.
In 2015, the producers of the film had decided to withdraw the movie from cinema halls across the country and other parts of the world after protests from religious Sikh groups.
A month ago, the film producers again announced the movie’s release for April 13 after which various Sikh outfits started raising objections seeking a ban on the grounds that depiction of Sikh gurus and other historic Sikh figures in films is considered blasphemous.
Now, the SGPC too has urged the Central and state governments to ban the screening of the movie keeping in view the Sikh sentiments.
Some radical Sikh organisations too have demanded ban on the movie, claiming it “brazenly violates the religious philosophy and Sikh maryada (code of conduct)”.
Meanwhile, members of various Sikh organisations held protests at many places across Punjab today.
Addressing a gathering of Sikhs at Nawanshahr, former SGPC general secretary Sukhdev Singh Bhaur said it was against the Sikh tenets to show Guru Nanak in “living form”.
The protesters said in case the film was released in the state on April 13, its makers would have to face wrath of Sikh community across the country.
Some agitators also disrupted the traffic on Bathinda-Mansa road in protest against the movie.
PARALLEL JATHEDARS ISSUE ‘EDICT’ AGAINST ‘NANAK SHAH FAKIR’
Parallel jathedars on Sunday passed an “edict”, directing immediate stopping of the release of controversial biopic “Nanak Shah Fakir”.
Sarbat Khalsa-appointed jathedars Baljit Singh Daduwal and Dhian Singh Mand announced the “edict” after paying obeisance at the Golden Temple.
They asked the SGPC to find ways to prevent the release of the movie as it “brazenly violates the religious philosophy and Sikh maryada (code of conduct)”.
Mand said no person could play the role of Sikh Gurus, their families and prominent Sikh personalities of the Gurus’ period. He said though some changes were made in the movie, the voiceover of Guru Nanak was done by a person, which was also in contravention of the Sikh religion.
He called upon the SGPC to constitute a censor board of Sikh intellectuals to watch and clear any movie related to the Sikhs and their religion.
Daduwal said despite repeated warnings film director Harinder Singh Sikka was adamant on releasing the movie. He demanded a ban on the biopic.
The parallel jathedars sought legal action against Sikka. They said the release of the movie would hurt religious sentiments of the Sikh community all over the world.
