New Delhi, India – Punjabi actor Diljit Dosanjh is on a mission to bring his highest-grossing film to the top of his chart-topping career.
“Sardaar Ji 3”, the latest horror-comedy by Dosanjh, one of Asia’s most bankable artists, has been shattering records abroad. However, the movie hasn’t been released in his own home country, India, and is still restricted to more than one billion people.
A political and cultural conflict involving the nationality of his film’s co-star, Pakistani actor Hania Amir, has tarnished Dosanjh and his most recent film, which was released worldwide on June 27.
Last year, Dosanjh sold out arenas in the US, Canada, and across Europe during his Dil-Luminati world tour. He walked down the Met Gala carpet in a recognizable turban and became the first Indian artist to perform at the Californian Coachella festival. As both a crowd-pleaser and a critical favorite, Dosanjh has also created a special niche in Bollywood.
But at home, he is now facing calls for a boycott and the impounding of his passport. However, this is a part of a growing pattern of censorship and an attempt to censor the country’s artistic freedom, according to film critics and political analysts in response to the nationalists’ demands.
Why, then, does India block one of its most popular artists’ output?
What makes Dosanjh’s most recent film controversial?
A well-known Punjabi duo Dosanjh and Neeru Bajwa play the lead roles in Sardaar Ji 3, the third installment of the well-known horror-comedy series starring Amar Hundal, along with Pakistan’s Hania Aamir.
Shortly after the film’s production was wrapped in April this year, suspected rebels in Indian-administered Kashmir’s resort town of Pahalgam killed 26 people, all but one of them tourists.
Islamabad denied involvement, but New Delhi immediately blammed Pakistan, which it claimed had supported the deadly “terrorist attack.” The two nations will host a four-day conflict, which will be the most extensive between the nuclear-armed neighbors in a decade.
When Dosanjh released the trailer for his upcoming film last month, the casting of Aamir took many by surprise – and prompted outrage.
Why is Sadaar Ji 3 being blocked by the Indian government?
The movie has not been released in Indian theaters and has not received certification from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in India.
The Indian government also “geoblocked” (restricted online access to) the film’s trailer in India, however, the teaser and film’s album, which do not include shots of Aamir, remain accessible.
The Indian government quickly launched a number of digital crackdowns following the April attack in Kashmir. For this, thousands of Pakistani social media accounts were blocked on platforms like Instagram and X (previously Twitter), including the  accounts of celebrities like Aamir, Fawad Khan, and Mahira Khan.
The government, which is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also blocked access to the social media accounts of Pakistani journalists and news outlets in India.
On May 8, the government issued an advisory urging all digital intermediaries, streaming services, and video platforms to immediately remove Pakistani-origin entertainment content, including podcasts, web series, movies, and other media.
Additionally, the government imposed a ban on 16 well-known Pakistani YouTube channels, including Geo News, ARY News, and Samaa TV, for allegedly diffusing information and content that disparages India’s armed forces and sovereignty, on top of which there are more than 63 million subscribers.
Rahul Desai, a Mumbai-based film and TV critic, said blocking access to films over casting choices has become “an excuse to antagonise Pakistan” under the current government.
He told Al Jazeera, “It’s a vicious cycle because a lot of the cinema is influenced by pro-establishment decisions in India.”
“This has evolved into a very nice forum where people can vent against Pakistan,” according to Cricket.
Today, the reality-based creative boundaries in India are neat, Desai said: “Do not cast artists from the other side of the border, and a lot of filmmakers self-censor themselves”.
Are there regular cross-border artistic collaborations?
Yes, they are. Pakistani actors are prohibited from working in India, so they must be on locations abroad where they are photographed.
At least ten or two of Pakistan’s film departments’ music departments were active in Indian cinema at the beginning of the 2000s, according to Desai. The release of the curated music show franchise, Coke Studio Pakistan, which had 15 seasons from 2008 to 2024, was almost “like a cultural moment in India”, he added.
However, there have been numerous instances of cross-border collaborations of artists over the past 20 years, despite the South Asian neighbors’ political tensions.
The situation is even more complicated for Punjabi music and film industries.
The partition of British India, which resulted in the creation of Pakistan with borders drawn overnight, cuts through Punjab, and millions on each side share culture and linguistic ties.
Due to growing demands, especially with regard to the upcoming Chal Mera Putt 4, successful Punjabi franchises like Chal Mera Putt, which are known for their Pakistani cast, are facing uncertainty.
Desai remarked, “There is obviously a lot of bullying by the establishment about casting Pakistani actors.” “There’s a lot of banning and trolling involved. Such choices cause a lot of stress and anxiety.
What are Indian film critics’ opinions of Sadaar Ji 3?
Indian film associations, particularly the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) and the All Indian Cine Workers Association (AICWA), have voiced strong objections to the casting of Aamir in Dosanjh’s Sardaar Ji 3.
The collaboration was referred to as a “betrayal of the nation” by FWICE, which was led by President BN Tiwari. In India, it demanded a total ban on the movie.
The body also issued appeals to India’s CBFC to withhold certification for Sardaar Ji 3 and emphasised noncooperation with Pakistani artists.
AICWA echoed these sentiments, calling for a widespread boycott of Dosanjh across the industry, including by music companies and event organisers, and criticizing the film’s producers for placing Pakistani talent before Indian talent.
The Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association’s president, Ashoke Pandit, stated in a statement to a local newspaper: “We are going to take action and tell the producers not to work with [Dosanjh].”
” He should be fully boycotted in the country by music labels and the Punjabi film industry. “Diljit is a compulsive Pakistani lover.
However, Ira Bhaskar, a former member of the CBFC Board and retired professor of film studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said this incident is more indicative of the institutions in India and Pakistan than a deeper division between the two nations.
” The Indian government]since Modi came to power] has not only understood the power of mass media, especially cinema, but is invested in taking control of the narratives that circulate in the public domain, “Bhaskar said.
What has Dosanjh said about the controversy surrounding Sadaar Ji 3?
Dosanjh told BBC Asian Network earlier this month:” When this film was made, everything was fine.
“We shot it in February, and things were fine then. The singer-actor referred to the Kashmir attack and the subsequent conflict as the result of a number of significant events that were beyond our control.
“So the producers decided that the film obviously won’t be released in India now, so they’ll release it overseas. No such thing was happening when the movie was being made, according to Dosanjh, who said the producers had invested a lot of money.
How popular is Sardaar Ji 3 globally?
Dosanjh told the BBC that the film’s producers were aware of the potential financial loss from pulling out of a territory like India, the world’s most populous country. Sadaar Ji 2, the previous movie in the franchise, earned almost $3 million domestically.
Dosanjh has continued to promote his film on his social media accounts, including sharing images from sold-out Pakistani theaters, breaking records for Indian releases. Globally, the film has taken $7m at the box office, against a budget of $4m. It is the highest-grossing Indian film in Pakistan so far, earning $1.4 million.
The critic Desai said in India that “censorship extends far beyond casting… It extends the themes of the stories that people are currently permitted to tell in India.”
Do any other Dosanjh’s publications still have issues?
Yes . The release of Dosanjh’s film, Panjab ‘ 95, directed by Honey Trehan in 2022, has stalled, primarily because of stringent demands from India’s Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), which has delayed its clearance since the project was submitted in December 2022.
In addition to removing references to political figures, documented human rights violations, and the protagonist’s name, 120 suggested cuts were made to the biographical drama about the life of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, who exposed 25, 0000 extrajudicial killings and disappearances of Sikhs in Punjab during the 1980s and 1990s.
Trehan stated to Al Jazeera, “The CBFC was established as an independent body, which could protect artists, so that the government shouldn’t influence the art… [but] the government is arm-twisting filmmakers and their films.”
Desai, the critic who watched Panjab ‘ 95 in a private screening, told Al Jazeera: “It’s such a well-made film that it might incite a sense of revolution among people today, especially people who are not happy with the establishment. So we can see where a lot of insecurity is coming from.
Source: Aljazeera
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