Latest news with #Tarsem
Time of India
a day ago
- Politics
- Time of India
In Tarn Taran, stakes go beyond bypoll for jailed MP Amritpal Singh's party
Tarn Taran: For NSA detainee and Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh 's father, Tarsem Singh, his party's interest in contesting the Tarn Taran assembly seat bypoll is both symbolic and strategic. "Bhai Amritpal's followers want his party to contest to express support for him and his cause," he says. The seat, left vacant after the death of AAP MLA Dr Kashmir Singh Sohal, has emerged as a critical political test for Tarsem — not just for votes, but for sentiment. Amritpal, lodged in Assam's Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act (NSA), had secured a surprise victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Khadoor Sahib despite being incarcerated. One of the nine assembly segments under the Khadoor Sahib constituency is Tarn Taran, where Amritpal received 44,703 votes in 2024. The math, Tarsem believes, favours Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De). In the 2022 assembly elections, Dr Sohal had won by getting around 52,000 votes. But numbers are only part of the equation. For 'Team Amritpal', the bypoll is about maintaining symbolic momentum. The panthic image cultivated by Amritpal — with clear echoes of the slain militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale — is central to his appeal. Amritpal came to prominence in Sep 2022, controversially taking charge of Waris Punjab De, a group founded by the late actor-activist Deep Sidhu. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Upto 15% Discount for Salaried Individuals ICICI Pru Life Insurance Plan Get Quote Undo His hardline image, vocal support for Khalistan, and a campaign urging youth to reject drugs and modern vices earned him mass attention and state scrutiny. The breaking point came in Feb 2023, when he and his supporters carried the Guru Granth Sahib — considered the living Guru in Sikhism — to Ajnala police station in Amritsar to free an aide. This act, seen by many as sacrilegious, triggered a statewide crackdown. After evading arrest for 35 days, he was captured in Rode — the same village Bhindranwale hailed from — and subsequently jailed in Assam. Yet, in 2024, his Lok Sabha win was widely interpreted as a public rebuke of the govt's crackdown. Keeping Amritpal's panthic image in mind, Waris Punjab De initially approached Paramjit Kaur Khalra, widow of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, to contest the bypoll, but she declined. Focus then shifted to Satwant Kaur, who is part of the five-member committee opposing Sukhbir Badal's hold on Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Waris Punjab De is banking on its panthic image in the bypoll. Tarn Taran's tilet for panthic candidates is visible in the last five assembly elections. The seat elected Shiromani Akali Dal's (SAD) Harmeet Singh Sandhu in 2002, 2007 and 2012. In the last two elections, he lost, but was a close second, as he got 45,156 votes in 2017 and 39,347 in 2022. AAP, for its part, is banking on governance and development. Party spokesperson Shashivir Sharma said, "We have our work to show for it. Our high command will present a strong and dedicated candidate focused on the development of Tarn Taran. What other parties do is their own business." While the date of the bypoll is yet to be announced, Khalsa University vice-chancellor Mehal Singh remarked that development and drug eradication would likely outweigh identity politics. "There was a time when people voted for Amritpal, but that may not be repeated," he said. Box Both ran anti-drug campaigns Both AAP and Amritpal have placed anti-drugs campaigns at the heart of their messaging — though the methods differed. AAP recently launched a broad crackdown on the drug trade, while Amritpal's grassroots campaign in 2022-2023 urged youth to embrace traditional Sikh values and reject addiction. Ultimately, for Amritpal's party, the stakes go beyond one seat. Winning Tarn Taran would be a step toward consolidating Amritpal's symbolic authority and sustaining a panthic narrative. For his opponents, the bypoll will be a litmus test of how deep his influence really runs and whether it ends at the prison gates.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Stakes go beyond bypoll in Tarn Taran for NSA detainee MP Amritpal's party; ; Waris Punjab De's candidate search getting tough after Khalra widow rejects offer
Tarn Taran: For NSA detainee and Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh 's father, Tarsem Singh, his party's interest in contesting the Tarn Taran assembly seat bypoll is both symbolic and strategic. "Bhai Amritpal's followers want his party to contest to express support for him and his cause," he says. The seat, left vacant after the death of AAP MLA Dr Kashmir Singh Sohal, has emerged as a critical political test for Tarsem — not just for votes, but for sentiment. Amritpal, lodged in Assam's Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act (NSA), had secured a surprise victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Khadoor Sahib despite being incarcerated. One of the nine assembly segments under the Khadoor Sahib constituency is Tarn Taran, where Amritpal received 44,703 votes in 2024. The math, Tarsem believes, favours Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De). In the 2022 assembly elections, Dr Sohal had won by getting around 52,000 votes. But numbers are only part of the equation. For 'Team Amritpal', the bypoll is about maintaining symbolic momentum. The panthic image cultivated by Amritpal — with clear echoes of the slain militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale — is central to his appeal. Amritpal came to prominence in Sep 2022, controversially taking charge of Waris Punjab De, a group founded by the late actor-activist Deep Sidhu. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Providers are furious: Internet access without a subscription! Techno Mag Learn More Undo His hardline image, vocal support for Khalistan, and a campaign urging youth to reject drugs and modern vices earned him mass attention and state scrutiny. The breaking point came in Feb 2023, when he and his supporters carried the Guru Granth Sahib — considered the living Guru in Sikhism — to Ajnala police station in Amritsar to free an aide. This act, seen by many as sacrilegious, triggered a statewide crackdown. After evading arrest for 35 days, he was captured in Rode — the same village Bhindranwale hailed from — and subsequently jailed in Assam. Yet, in 2024, his Lok Sabha win was widely interpreted as a public rebuke of the govt's crackdown. Keeping Amritpal's panthic image in mind, Waris Punjab De initially approached Paramjit Kaur Khalra, widow of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, to contest the bypoll, but she declined. Focus then shifted to Satwant Kaur, who is part of the five-member committee opposing Sukhbir Badal's hold on Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Waris Punjab De is banking on its panthic image in the bypoll. Tarn Taran's tilet for panthic candidates is visible in the last five assembly elections. The seat elected Shiromani Akali Dal's (SAD) Harmeet Singh Sandhu in 2002, 2007 and 2012. In the last two elections, he lost, but was a close second, as he got 45,156 votes in 2017 and 39,347 in 2022. AAP, for its part, is banking on governance and development. Party spokesperson Shashivir Sharma said, "We have our work to show for it. Our high command will present a strong and dedicated candidate focused on the development of Tarn Taran. What other parties do is their own business." While the date of the bypoll is yet to be announced, Khalsa University vice-chancellor Mehal Singh remarked that development and drug eradication would likely outweigh identity politics. "There was a time when people voted for Amritpal, but that may not be repeated," he said.
Korea Herald
06-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Bold as his film, 'The Fall' director relishes Korean revival
Director's visual odyssey found unexpected audience in Korea following Christmas rerelease Few filmmakers seem to embody their film as vividly as Tarsem Singh, who showed up at Thursday's press event with the same theatrical flair that defines his newly restored work. At Seoul's Yongsan CGV, the Indian filmmaker arrived in a pink floral jacket and yellow striped vest, kneeling amid bursts of camera flash lights. The showy gesture sums up the spirit of his 2008 extravaganza "The Fall," which has found new life in South Korea through a 4K rerelease last December. Tarsem likened the film's belated recognition to a child that refuses to crawl. "Then you look away, look back after 20 years, and it's running. It's a wonderful experience that it got picked up the way it did." It is an apt metaphor for a work that stumbled at the box office, recouping barely a tenth of its budget, only to find a captive audience 15 years later. That audience has emerged in South Korea, where the rerelease has now surpassed 100,000 admissions since its Christmas debut. It's a remarkable feat for the audacious spectacle it is. Set in a 1920s Los Angeles hospital, the film follows an injured stuntman (Lee Pace) who beguiles a little Romanian girl (Catinca Untaru) with an elaborate fantasy tale, though his true motives prove darker than mere storytelling. "I was so conceited into thinking that this film was going to last that I finished it in 4K back in 2008," Tarsem said, his characteristic bravado intact. "It's just that people were expecting something and it didn't work. And just like fashion after 20 years, it becomes retro. They watch it neutrally and it's just a very strange story." Shot in 26 locations across 18 countries, from Buenos Aires' arboretum to tombs in India and without any computer-generated imagery, "The Fall" is a testament to visual storytelling. "The locations were quite magical," Tarsem said. "Adding effects would be like putting a hat on top of a hat. I wanted it clean." The result plays like a wild folly — a dizzying display of costumes, landscapes and action that wings its way through narrative logic. Watching the film in Korea's high-end theaters, the director says, has made him feel prouder of his work. "Your cinemas are incredible. I've seen it in IMAX in London, and it's nowhere near as beautiful as it looks here." The film's emphasis on style over substance has divided critics and audiences alike, and the divide seems only likely to continue. Yet it stands defiant in its dazzling ambition — a quality that gives it an undeniable charm of its own. "I'm a creature of extremes," the director said. "I'm okay if people say it's fantastic, and I'm okay if people say it's s---. I'm just terrified of 'it's okay.'"
