CHANDIGARH – It seems that the Censor Board is not in the mood to say yes these days. A Punjabi music video by leading Punjabi actor, singer and producer Gippy Grewal, titled Zaalam Sarkaran, has been stuck with the Board since over a month now.
The video, which is based on the real life story of a Sikh youth from a village near Ludhiana in Punjab and whose ambitions of becoming an army soldier went horribly wrong, rationalizes the youth’s actions after he murders a cop who is attempting to outrage his sister’s modesty. The youth, essayed by Gippy, is on the run who then goes on to join the Punjab terrorist ranks.
“We have released the video on YouTube but the Censor Board has still not cleared it for TV release, objecting to the story in the song that justifies the youth’s actions,” says Darshan Aulakh, actor and producer who plays the lead negative role of the cop who commits atrocities on the brother-sister duo in this video, “Actually that is not true. The song only portrays the sentiment of revenge against illegal practices.” The song has been sung by Gippy himself.
While the Video producers has stated that the Video only highlights the injustice that drives the youth to take to the extremist ranks, the Censor Board’s objection is that the video justifies the actions of the youth. In fact, there is an extremely thin line between the two and every viewer and listener would perhaps draw his or her own conclusions. That is what artists’ creativity is all about.
Top Journalist Kanwar Sandhu has suggested Censor Board to reconsider their decision
Having lived in this region for more than three decades and covered the strife in Punjab for more than a decade, I can vouch for the fact that such incidents did actually take place. There may also have been many other reasons for the youth to join the militant ranks but instances of harassment driving people to cross the line too were not uncommon. The Censor Board should adopt a more liberal view. This is especially important because in today’s world and age there is no way you can put a lid on such works. I am told the Video is already on youtube. Moreover, there are numerous stories of the 1947 Partition between India and Pakistan which continue to surface even now. The period of militancy in Punjab was of a much longer duration and there is a lot of that period that still remains untold.
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