Chandigarh: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and film giant T-Series have locked horns over the video of a song in an upcoming film Yaariyan 2 which shows a clean shaven, non-turbaned actor sporting what they claim is a kirpan (sword), a prominent symbol of Sikh faith.
While the SGPC has lodged a formal complaint against the company with the Amritsar Police for hurting religious sentiments, the directors of the film — Radhika Rao and Vinay Sapru — say that what the SGPC is claiming to be a kirpan is actually a ‘khukri’.
A kirpan is one the five sacred symbols (kakaars) for Sikhs and which every baptised (initiated) Sikh is expected to carry on his person. According to the Sikh code of conduct, a non-baptised Sikh or a non-Sikh cannot wear a kirpan.
A khukri, on the other hand, is a small weapon with no religious significance.
The SGPC manages historical Sikh shrines in Punjab, Himachal and Chandigarh besides monitoring any instances of disrespect to the Sikh religion.
Yaariyan 2 has been produced by T-Series and is expected to release in October this year. Its song ‘Saure Ghar’, released on T-Series’s YouTube channel Sunday, is the one that has become the subject of this controversy.
The song features actor Meezaan Jafri wearing a “gatra” (a special strap used to hold the kirpan) with a knife attached to it. Jafri, who is clean shaven in the song, is wearing the gatra over a white kurta pyjama akin to the way it is worn by baptised Sikhs. The song has already clocked over 15 million views.
In a post on X Monday, the SGPC expressed its objection to the video and threatened “legal proceedings” if it’s not taken down.
“This has seriously hurt the religious sentiments of Sikh community across the globe. Only an initiated Sikh has the right to wear Kirpan as per Sikh Code of Conduct of Akal Takht Sahib and the right given by the Constitution of India. This video song is public at the official @YouTube channel of @TSeries, which must take it down with immediate effect. If any other platform is used to publish this video song with the said objectionable scenes must also take it down…. We request @MIB_India and @GoI_MeitY to ensure this objectionable video or any of such unacceptable scenes of the said film are not cleared for release by the Censor Board of Film Certification @CBFC_MIB @CBFC_India @prasoonjoshi_,” wrote SGPC.
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
Speaking to ThePrint, Amritsar’s Commissioner of Police Naunihal Singh said his office had received the SGPC’s complaint. “We are looking into the matter,” he said.
‘Illogical clarification’ from filmmakers, says SGPC
Responding to the SGPC’s post, directors of the film Rao and Sapru had posted a clarification on X.
“…the actor in the song is wearing a Khukri and not a Kirpan. In fact the dialogues in the film make it explicitly clear that it is a Khukri. We regret any misunderstanding that might have arisen due to the similarity in appearance. Our intention has never been to offend or disrespect any religious beliefs,” they wrote.
— Radhika & Vinay (@SapruAndRao) August 28, 2023
The SGPC, however, termed their response an “illogical clarification” and said “Sikhs very well know the shape of a ‘Kirpan’ and a ‘Khukri’”.
“The Khukri is worn like a pistol on a belt by a person (mostly Gorkha soldiers) authorised to do so and, similarly, the Sikh Kirpan is worn on a Gatra (belt) like the actor has done in your Saure Ghar video song,” said SGPC’s post, adding that they are initiating legal proceedings since the concerned video was still in “public view”.
The Sikhs very well know the shape of a 'Kirpan' and a 'Khukri', and the way both are worn on one's body. We are not satisfied with your illogical clarification. Therefore, we are initiating the process of legal action in this case, as the concerned video song is still in public… https://t.co/rlTyXWkYGH pic.twitter.com/LsxsvK5G24
— Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (@SGPCAmritsar) August 29, 2023
In a statement issued by SGPC, the body’s president Harjinder Singh Dhami has demanded an immediate ban on the film and the removal of the song from YouTube. According to it, SGPC secretary Partap Singh has also sent a complaint to the police commissioner of Amritsar against the filmmakers for “hurting religious sentiments”.
SGPC’s public relations head Jaskaran Singh told ThePrint Wednesday that the committee had also contacted the T-Series company regarding this matter.
“An official of T-Series had assured us that the objectionable scenes would be cut from the song and also from the film. This was two days ago. However, no action was taken by T-Series on our objection. Instead, the directors issued a statement on the kirpan being a khukri. Following this we submitted a complaint against the filmmakers to the Amritsar police,” said Singh.
“We contacted the company this morning as well but were told that it will take another two days before the song can be edited to cut those scenes. When we asked them to remove the song (from public view) in the meantime, they were non-committal. It seems that they are delaying the removal of the song from the channel intentionally,” he added.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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