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SGPC downplays row over film

A still from the film “Singh is Kinng”

Chandigarh: Two days after Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) sought a ban on Akshay Kumar starrer “Singh is Kinng” for allegedly “ridiculing” the Sikh community, the SGPC on Sunday downplayed the row saying the matter should be left for the public to decide.

“I think too much is being made even before the film has been released. Let public watch the film and react and then we will see,” Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) President Avtar Singh Makkar said.

He said the SGPC, the apex religious body of the Sikhs, had already formed a five-member committee to see if the film, due for release on Friday, would hurt the religious sentiments of the community.

“The members have reviewed the film and come to the conclusion that the matter should be left to the public to decide. Raking up unnecessary controversy should be avoided. The filmmaker (Vipul Shah) had assured us that there will be no negative portrayal of Sikhs in the film,” Makkar told PTI over phone.

He said “Singh is Kinng” is an “ordinary film” not based on Sikhs as such and “therefore, we should not straightaway start making hue and cry.”

On Friday, DSGMC president Paramjit Singh Sarna while seeking a ban on the movie also wrote a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, asking her not to allow screening of the film in the national capital until its makers made changes in the portrayal of the Sikh character. Sarna had said the film’s promos showed a Sikh character wearing a turban while sporting a French cut. PTI

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