Pune: Various members of the city-based Sikh community staged a protest outside the District Collectorate on Tuesday. They are demanding the removal of objectionable scenes showing Sikhs in a bad light from the film ‘Manmarziyan’ which was released recently. The community members were holding placards which stated that such portrayal of Sikh community members through media should be stopped.
The members submitted their demands to Tehsildar Hemant Nikam of the Home Department. The demands stated that scenes in which Sikhs are shown smoking in the film should be deleted and Censor Board of India should take necessary action so that such incidents are not repeated in the future.
Raj Singh, a member of Sikh Sanat Pune, said that the community is famous for their sacrifices in the development of the nation and such media portrayal hurts sentiments of a large number of community members. “Smoking is prohibited in our religion and Sikh teachings also reflect the same. Why has Censor Board not thought upon it?” added Raj.
The memorandum submitted by the community member to Nikam stated, “The director of the movie, Anurag Kashyap, Abhishek Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu have shown no responsibility to the religious sentiments. It also raises questions on how this has passed the Censor Board and puts a question mark on the authenticity of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).”
The community members are seeking legal opinion before taking the next step of the protest. “People should not feel that the Sikh community will take such things on a lighter note. The crew members of the film work for their bread and butter and do as the director says. It is high time that the Sikh community should come forward and stop such portrayal of our community members in media,” added Raj.
The protestors also reached the Inox theatre in Bund Garden and requested the management to cancel the shows of the film. Tehsildar Nikam said that the department will submit the list of demands to the State government for desired action.
