Amritsar, Punjab March 18, 2015 : A Sikh youth body named Sikh Youth of Punjab (SYP) has announced to oppose upcoming movie “Nanak Shah Fakir”. The movie is said to depict the life of first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Ji, through the eyes of Guru Ji’s companion Bhai Mardana. It is notable that depicting Sikh Gurus is not allowed in the Sikh tradition and Nanak Shah Fakir is believed to have violated the tradition.
Though the movie is not released yet but a teaser recently released on YouTube shows that “Nanak Shah Fakir” depicts Guru Nanak Ji. The trailer began with a message thanking the Akal Takht Sahib for their support and blessings giving an impression that the movie is endorsed by the Akal Takht Sahib.
As the makers of “Nanak Shah Fakir” have announced to release the film on April 17 various Sikh circles have expressed their concerns on this issue. In a recent blog naujawani.com blogger Harwinder Singh Mander said: “a trailer or selected clips from a film are not enough to determine whether it as a whole will make for satisfactory viewing; that would be akin to judging the proverbial book by its cover. However, one is able to ascertain how certain content will be presented both visually and audibly from such short clips, giving rise to the question of appropriateness and suitability. For many this will be an academic point of discussion, but I would argue that in the Sikh context such an intellectual debate is at the heartbeat of this very way of life and pervades every sphere of our existence – simply ignoring or even shutting down this conversation is as un-Sikh-like as it gets! In this light, some of the scenes depicted in ‘Nanak Shah Fakir’ were incredibly troubling, if not unsurprising. The production company has made it clear that they have avoided portraying his face on screen so as not to cause disrespect by having an actor play the role. But it is an actor portraying the role; there is a voice that utters the words of Guru Nanak; and it doesn’t sound or look anything like Guru Nanak who is portrayed as the stereotypical Messiah […]” [Producing Sikh cinema, by Harwinder Singh Mander | Source: naujawani.com, published on 16 Mar, 2015. Source:http://naujawani.com/blog/producing-sikh-cinema (visit for full article).