Controversy has emerged around Emergency, a film featuring and directed by Kangana Ranaut, ahead of its release. Even before its release, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which is the highest executive body for the management of historical Gurdwaras, has served a legal notice to the producers of the film, including Kangana Ranaut, stating that the movie distorts Sikh history and has scenes that are a serious affront to the Sikh community.
Through its legal notice, the SGPC calls on the filmmakers to delete offensive scenes from Emergency within 72 hours, and that the Sikhs be rendered an apology. The SGPC has further called for the trailer for the film, which was released on August 14, to be removed from all the public and social media sites.
As reported by The Hindu, SGPC Secretary Partap Singh expressed adverse comments regarding the representation of Sikhs in the film, stating, “The movie trailer reveals several derogatory scenes towards Sikhs which have hurt the Sikh community. There is an attempt made to depict Sikhs as terrorists and secessionists people…this is totally unacceptable, completely baseless.”
The SGPC notice contends that the movie goes off the path of acknowledged history and depicts Sikhs with negative connotations and negative stereotypes. Singh stressed that should the filmmakers disregard the demands in question and do not take out the rejected bearings of Sikkim, and these lawyers will be seeing them in court for sure SGPC says.
Besides the SGPC’s legal notice, another litigation in the nature of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been introduced in the Punjab and Haryana High Court with a prayer seeking the cancellation of certification under which Emergency has been certified for public screening. The PIL contends that the film presents a menace to the integrity of the society in Punjab and is likely to foster inter-communal violence.
The petitioners behind the PIL contend that Emergency seeks to portray the Sikh community in poor light which has negative implications for the already fragile socio-political fabric of Punjab. The allied prayers call upon the court to step in and restrain the promoters of the film from its release until such a time that the politically objectionable scenes are excised and the apology as to the reasons behind them is complete.
Emergency is a political drama about events related to the emergency period in India started in the year 1975, which has been making headlines ever since its announcement. So far, there has been no response to the legal notice served by the SGPC or the PIL filed in court either by Kangana Ranaut or any of the other producers of Emergency.
