Chandigarh 23 Feb 2015:Views of Kanwar Sandhu on Gippy Grewal Song :It is learnt that a Punjabi Music Video called “Zaalam Sarkaran” (Brutal Governments) has not been cleared by the Film Censor Board. The video features well known artists, Gippy Grewal and Darshan Aulakh (directed by Navraj Raja) and tells the story of a Ludhiana youth whose ambition to join the Army goes awry after he murders a cop trying to outrage the modesty of his sister. He then goes underground and finally joins the ranks of the militants. 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.
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.