As a superhero film A FLYING JATT is certainly a poorly made, below-average project heavily relying on its deliberate religious angle and the lead star. But the film still has a ‘must watch’ important sequence that clearly enlightens the viewers about the actual historical truth behind the Sikh community’s relationship with the ‘clock striking 12’, which is wrongly and sadly (mostly) expressed in a comical or rather insulting manner by many.
The real fact behind this association is sure going to make many proud of the untold or lesser known Indian history where the invaders were bravely defeated by the valiant Sikhs safeguarding our women irrespective of their region, religion or language as collective Indians.
However, the one person who essentially needs to see, grasp and accept the fact with a sporting but regretful spirit is KARAN JOHAR, probably the first director who openly used this ‘time’ reference as some sort of comedy in his very first film, and that too involving a 7-8 years old kid presented as a Sikh. No doubt being a young energetic debutant, born and brought up in Mumbai, Karan had no idea about the actual history behind this reference wrongly used to harass/poke the Sikhs. But coming from a reputed educated background, he could have inquired or gone for a responsible research of the same before using it as a comic element in his debut project following a questionably casual approach.
The film was KUCH KUCH HOTA HAI released in 1998 which featured Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Rani Mukherji in the lead roles along with Salman Khan playing a guest appearance. Winning many major awards, including the National Award for Best Popular Film providing wholesome entertainment, it had an adorable character of a Sikh child (played by Parzan Dastur) who was also given (probably) the most famous and repeatedly spoofed dialogue of the film (in Punjabi) “Tussi Ja Rahey Ho….., Tussi Na Jao”.
Ironically the same kid was also used in an unexpectedly disgraceful comic scene, wherein he was mocked by Johny Lever suggesting the ‘sick time reference’ without any reason at all. In their scene together, the kid was shown silently counting the stars looking into the sky at night and feeling puzzled watching him doing this, Johny Lever looked at his wrist watch as if the kid had gone mad at a specific timing. Remembering the first week of the film’s release in Delhi (as a personal experience), there were some quick extreme responses from the community made against this particular scene due to which it was later reportedly cut from the prints sent to the theatres of specific regions (in Delhi) and the rest continued to play it as it is. Proving the fact of this selective corrective measure taken at the time of its release, you can now easily find the ‘objectionable’ scene in the uploaded version of the film and probably in its official DVD too in the second half of the narration during the summer camp.
So where a young, talented but unaware director made fun of Sikhs in his debut film released in the late nineties, another thankfully rectified the error after almost two long decades in a respectable, thoughtful manner in the year 2016.
Hoping that Karan Johar somehow watches A FLYING JATT accepting his regretful but maybe unintentional mistake made way back in 1998, the latest superhero film indeed does a noble task that needs to be appreciated by all Indians wholeheartedly.
HIS BLESSINGS
Tags :
Karan Johar should watch A FLYING JATT, Sikh controversy in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Wrong Portrayal of Sikhs in Hindi films, The Actual truthe behind the time of 12 and Sikhs, Articles on Cinema by Bobby Sing, Rare Articles on Hindi Cinema by Bobby Sing at bobbytalkscinema.com
