Members of the Sikh community are angrily calling for a boycott of the new season of Netflix series, Sacred Games that stars Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Pankaj Tripathi and Kalki Koechlin in lead roles.
The bone of contention is a scene from the web series which features Saif’s character, Sartaj Singh, a Sikh cop taking off his Kara (steel bangle, which is an article of faith for Sikhs) in rage and throwing it into the sea.
Directing his anger at the series’ co-director Anurag Kashyap, legislator and president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), Manjinder Sirsa shared the clip in context on Twitter, demanding the makers to delete the scene or face legal action for “disrespecting” Sikh sentiments.
He also called-out the production team for not conducting adequate research on the “identity of Sikhs and 5 Kakkars,” (articles of faith) before making an entire series around a Sikh protagonist.
The lawmaker also sought the intervention of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to address the issue.
The series has also drawn the ire of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson, Tajinder Pal Bagga who has filed a police complaint against Mr Kashyap.
The controversy has triggered a debate among the fans of the popular series, many of whom came out in support of the Sikh community and endorsed its demand for censoring the scene.
Others alleged producers are increasingly "misusing" platforms like Netflix to broadcast uncensored content.
There were also those who felt the anger of the community is misplaced and any action taken would only dissuade filmmakers and actors from creating and portraying Sikh characters.
Representation of Sikhs in cinema has remained a contentious issue over the years, acknowledged Melbourne-based film enthusiast Rav Thukral, but he also warned that it would be “unfair” for the audiences to just focus on the ”pitfalls.”
“It cannot be negated that Sikhs have been misrepresented in Bollywood films and serials over the years and have often been confined to silly, slapstick roles,” Mr Thukral told SBS Punjabi.
“But at the same time it would be wrong for us to focus on the insensitive portrayals because a positive transition is definitely taking place, where makers are moving away from misappropriating Sikhs and are moving towards a stronger and more sensible representation of everything related to the faith,” he added.
