Singh is Kinng gets a Clean Chit from Sikhs
Posted on June 17, 2008 in Entertainment by Fareeha
Akshay Kumar’s turbaned but clean shaven look caused enough controversy for his forthcoming film Singh is Kinng. The Sikh community had objected to his clean shaven and very short beard in the film .
Vipul Shah clarified the matter saying, “The experts have commented on the length of Akshay’s beard. They feel it would have been better if he had sported a full-grown beard. Their worry is that Akshay is a role model. And if young Sikhs see him with a trimmed beard, they may start emulating him. But we realised our mistake and corrected it. Akshay grew a trimmed beard. That explains Akshay’s bearded look for the past six months.”
“I don’t want to contest any community’s religious beliefs. I’m here to make movies, not challenge or offend any community. So when the Sikh experts asked us for that one dialogue justifying Akshay’s trimmed beard, I had no hesitation in respecting their sentiments. Now the Sikh experts are very happy. We sorted it all out in five days,” he added.
The second objection was over the recitation of Gurbani to correct which Shah offered to re-shoot the sequence. “It’s just a case of a grammatical error, nothing else. I offered to re-shoot the scene. But Sikh leader Gurbachan Singh Bachchan and his colleagues saw the film and gave us a clean chit.
“They said no need to re-shoot, just re-dub it. They showed us how to pronounce it. I’ve got their go-ahead in writing. We didn’t want to hurt anybody. I’m not a Sikh, neither is my director Anees Bazmi.
After watching the entire movie, the Sikh community was actually pleased with Vipul Shah. So much that they felicitated him on the day of Guru Purab. An obviously elated Vipul Shah said,
“Actually I was also surprised; this is one of the very important days for the Sikhs. So I had gone there to see the festivities where I was then felicitated with a Sarafa; I think they were very happy with the way things have turned out with Singh is Kinng. But I am seriously very touched with their gesture and I feel that a little amount of care in what we portray about any community can go a long way. Filmmakers can actually learn a lot by coming in contact with the real ethos of a community. I personally have learnt a lot after I have interacted with the learned members of Sikh community.”
Perhaps they should change the title of the film to Shah is Kinng now!
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