Supreme Court clears 'Nanak Shah', SGPC seeks own censor board 

The Supreme Court may have cleared the release of Nanak Shah Fakir, but the controversy over the film has not died down yet as the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has filed a review pet
A still from 'Nanak Shah Fakir'.
A still from 'Nanak Shah Fakir'.

CHANDIGARH: The Supreme Court may have cleared the release of Nanak Shah Fakir, but the controversy over the film has not died down yet as the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has filed a review petition.Nor is this the first time the SGPC has raised objections to a film. In the past, over a dozen movies portraying Sikhs or Sikhism have run into trouble with SGPC and Akal Takht.In view of what it finds unflattering portrayal of Sikhs in many Bollywood films and objectionable depiction of the religion, the SGPC has been calling for its own ‘censor board’. 

Dr Roop Singh, chief secretary of SGPC, said, “The Akal Takht has decided to make its own Sikh censor board, as the CBFC does not adhere to values and ethics of Sikh community nor does it have its member. We will not allow any movie to be released which has anything to do with Sikhs till it is cleared by our board.”

Political analyst Kuldeep Singh said, “Legally, SGPC cannot intervene in movies as there is CBFC. But it should work out parameters which it wants films producers to adhere to. The SGPC should submit these parameters to the censor board as most of the times the board members do not know the Sikh’s ethos and other aspects of history and culture. Then the CBFC should adhere to these. What is happening now is that the SGPC is in a conflict with filmmakers on film-to-film basis and thus its yardstick varies.” 

The SC had earlier this week cleared the decks for the release of Nanak Shah Fakir and had criticised the SGPC for putting restrictions on its release.But the Akal Takht has ex-communicated Harinder Singh Sikka, the filmmaker from the panth. Jathedar Gurbachan Singh said he was adamant on the film’s release despite warnings. 

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