For Bollywood heroes, it's cool to be a Sikh

NEW DELHI: What's common to actors Ranbir Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar? All have recently played a Sikh hero in a Bollywood film.

Indeed, there's a profusion of Sikh characters in leading roles: the honest salesman in Rocket Singh, the love-smitten student Veer Singh in Love Aaj Kal (2009), the formidable army officer Balkar Singh in Heroes (2008) and the bumbling villager Happy Singh in Singh is Kinng (2008). Even Jackie Shroff played a gentle farmer Dayal Singh in Sohail Khan's Kisaan (2009).

Over the decade many films have depicted Sikh characters in leading roles. Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001), The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002) and Jo Bole So Nihaal (2005) are some such films. What's new is that today's Sikh hero has acquired a mellow, romantic shade as evident in films like Love Aaj Kal and Rocket Singh. Social scientist Shiv Vishwanathan points out that young Sikhs in recent films are shown as playing "non-military characters" unlike what was frequently projected in earlier ones. "Today's Sikh protagonist in Hindi film has broken the stereotype," he says.

Director Imtiaz Ali's films, Jab We Met (2007) and Love Aaj Kal, had plenty of Sikh characters. He narrates an interesting story behind his decision to do so. "I come from Jamshedpur and there is a sardar in my close group of friends. Whenever we would think of going to a movie, he would say, "What's the point? It's not as if by watching films I can get into the industry. Sardars don't make it in films." That got me wondering why a sardar can't be a hero?" says Ali on phone from Jamshedpur.

His desire to have Sikhs in leading roles grew stronger after watching Sunny Deol as Major Kuldeep Singh in J P Dutta's Border (1997), and a patriotic Tara Singh in Anil Sharma's Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001). "While Border established that a lead actor can be a Sikh, Gadar went on to shatter any other bias," says Ali. He adds, "I think Sikh heroes is a great trend. Why can't a handsome sardar be a hero? We should move beyond the clichi of chocolate heroes and look around our neighbourhood for real characters."

Agrees writer Jaideep Sahni, who fleshed out Rocket Singh's character and claims to be naturally disinclined towards the 6'2" kind of hunk imagery. "If one has a choice that doesn't go against the story's concept, then as film-makers we owe it to the audience to give them variety," says Sahni.

Sahni also feels the Hindi film industry restricts a filmmaker into a 'language jail'. "We normally can't cast a lead character from a Telugu, Tamil or North-East zone. My desire to break out of this 'jail' inspired Rocket Singh's character," says Sahni.

Film historian Firoze Rangoonwalla has a theory behind the recent rise of the Sikh protagonist. He says that the urban, multiplex films had hitherto alienated the cinema-going middle-class audience of north Indian heartland. "To target them producers have turned their focus on characters who look and speak like them. So we have Yash Chopra and Karan Johar often introducing Punjabi characters. This is a business-oriented action taken to cater to the ethos of that territory," he says.

Nonetheless, the profusion of Sikh heroes is in stark contrast to the Bollywood of 1960s and 1970s when a hero had to be clean-shaven and fair. The Sikh was consigned and confined to character roles. "It was assumed that a turbaned Sikh with a beard didn't have pan-India mass appeal. Also, they were viewed as representatives of a particular community with a distinct style of speaking," says Rangoonwalla citing examples of Dharmendra in Tarachand Barjatya's Jeevan Mrityu (1970) and Prem Nath in Manmohan Desai's Desh Premee (1982). "At best, a sardar played a good friend to the hero or was relegated to being a side character/comedian," he says.

Such a portrayal continued down the decades until Govind Nihalini's Vijeta (1982), where hero Kunal Kapoor played Sikh Air Force pilot Angad. Now the abundance of Sikh characters as regular heroes underlines the growing maturity of Bollywood as well as its audience.

with thanks : source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/For-Bollywood-heroes-its-cool-to-be-a-Sikh/articleshow/5376357.cms

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