Diljit Dosanjh finds fans across parties in Punjab, even as ‘barred' film climbs the charts

Indian Express

2 days ago

THE bitterness of the Ludhiana West Assembly bypoll still in the air, leaders of the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and BJP have found common cause in Punjab – in singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh.
As producers of Dosanjh's latest film Sardaar Ji 3 skip releasing it in India due to the controversy generated over his co-star Hania Amir being a Pakistani – with calls also made to revoke his citizenship – Sikh leaders across the three parties have called the treatment of the artist, one of India's largest global music icons, unfair.
BJP leaders were, in fact, the first to come to Dosanjh's defence. Soon after the Federation of Western India Cine Employees announced a 'ban' on the actor-singer for starring opposite a Pakistani, and demanded that his citizenship be cancelled, BJP national spokesperson R P Singh said, 'Diljit is not just a celebrated artiste, he is a national asset and a global ambassador of Indian culture. If there is anguish, it can be expressed through a boycott or by urging that the film not be screened in India. But attacking Diljit's patriotism and demanding such an extreme step is simply irrational.'
Union Minister of State Ravneet Singh Bittu, who has been critical of Dosanjh in the past, said: 'Why should we discredit or damage such a person who has made a name for Punjab and the turban in the whole world? Has he become Pakistani by working with Pakistani actors? It is an unwanted controversy.'
Voices of support next came from the Congress, which has been silent on the issue, wary of an 'anti-national' blowback from the right-wing. In a statement, the party's Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said: 'Diljit Dosanjh… took the Indian and Punjabi culture to global platforms like Coachella and Met Gala. Let us respect our own artists….'
AAP leader and Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan said: 'Diljit Singh Dosanjh has brought recognition to the Punjabi language both in India and abroad. Artists and writers belong to everyone. Those targeting Diljit are making a vile attempt to build a wall of hatred between art and artists – an attempt that will never succeed as long as humanity believes in love.'
The producers of Sardaar Ji 3 have defended the film, pointing out that it was wrapped up well before the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor – a stand also taken by Dosanjh, one of the producers. Another producer, Gunbir Singh Sidhu, said they risked an estimated 40% hit in revenues in not releasing the film in India, but were doing this so as to not hurt anyone's sentiments.
So far, that does not seem to have hurt Sardaar Ji 3 much, with the film on course to becoming a superhit, including in Pakistan.
The political leaders speaking up for Dosanjh, all of them Sikhs, have, incidentally, not called for allowing the film's release in India.
Within the Punjabi film industry, this has triggered worries about an impact on the growing market for it abroad, particularly in Pakistan. For around a decade, Punjabi movies have managed to skirt the highs and lows of India-Pakistan ties and found a release in Pakistan even when Indian movies were officially banned. Sardaar Ji 3 followed other Punjabi movies in featuring Pakistani artists.
The Indian Express reported earlier about the success of Carry on Jatta 3 in 2003, in the footsteps of more than two dozen Indian films that opened to packed theatres in Pakistan, despite a ban on the screening and telecast of Indian films in Pakistan since 2016.
This is not the first brush with controversy for Dosanjh, who has taken positions that have at different times run foul of both the Left and Right. For example, he openly supported the 2020 farmers' agitation against the BJP-led Central government, and clashed with now BJP MP Kangana Ranaut on X over the same. If that was seen as a patently anti-BJP stand, Dosanjh surprised many by dropping in to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the end of his hugely successful Dil-Luminati world tour on January 1 this year. After the meeting, Modi hailed Dosanjh as 'truly multifaceted, blending talent and tradition'.
That triggered speculation that the meeting could smoothen the course of Dosanjh's film based on the life of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, among those who 'disappeared' during the years of militancy in Punjab amidst a crackdown by the authorities. The film, Punjab 95, has been stuck with the Censor Board for almost three years now, with the producers refusing to make the reportedly 127 cuts ordered by the authorities, starting with the use of the name Khalra.
Since the Congress was in power in both the state and at the Centre when the events featured in Punjab 95 took place, the party has stayed away from the row. A BJP leader, refusing to be identified, said there had been discussion within the party on the issue. 'But we have not formed any opinion yet.'
Punjab 95 is Dosanjh's second film based on the militancy period. The first, Punjab 1984, also raised the issue of human rights violations, though the characters were fictional. Incidentally, while its release in 2014 was smooth, in June 2020, Bittu, who was then an MP of the ruling Congress in Punjab, had urged CM Amarinder Singh to file an FIR against Dosanjh over the song Rangroot in the film.
Dosanjh was also the lead in the critically acclaimed Chamkila, released last year, about a Dalit Sikh singer, which had tangential links with the militancy period. This time, pro-Khalistan sympathisers slammed him, for glorifying a singer who allegedly sung vulgar songs and showed militancy 'in a bad light'.
Dosanjh, for his part, continues to stand by his choices. Despite the row, he has shared on social media photos of Sardaar Ji 3's success in Pakistan, including one that featured people watching Hania Amir on screen.
Earlier this week, he shared a video of himself from the sets of Border 2 – the much-awaited sequel to the 1997 superhit film based on the India-Pakistan war of 1971. There were calls to drop Dosanjh from the film after Sardaar Ji 3. The video of the actor twirling his moustache as he got off a vanity van has put paid to that talk.