Board denies certification to film on Indira's assassins

JALANDHAR: Amid raging debate on Operation Bluestar and the massacre of Sikhs in November 1984, a recently-produced Punjabi film on the three assassins of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has been denied certification by the Central Board of Film Certification.

Rejecting the certificate, the board put forth the argument that the movie justified the assassins of Indira Gandhi and projected them as martyrs. The name of the film "Qaum De Heere" (Heroes of the community) also suggests positive depiction of the trio—Beant Singh, Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh.

Notwithstanding the board's denial, the film's director Ravinder Ravi said the movie would be released worldwide on February 28 and he would also challenge the decision. Ravi said he had stuck to the records, including the papers of the trial and had included the court judgment in the movie.

He claimed while the written reply from the board mentioned just one point, there was a half-an-hour-long argument between him and the members of the examining committee. "The panel held that while Operation Bluestar was referred as the provocation for the assassination, the reasons for the Army action on Golden Temple and government's viewpoint on the issue had not been given in the film," Ravi said.

"We have moved an application for the screening of the movie before a revision committee of the board and if need be we will move the court as there is nothing wrong in the film," he said.

He revealed that the film included scenes of damage to the Akal Takht as it was the main point of provocation for the assassins.

"We made it a point that even their dialogues would be based on their confessional statements and the prosecution case and then we also included the judgment without giving any ideological slant to it," he said. Prominent lyricist and singer Raj Kakra has played the role of sub-inspector Beant Singh, who was killed by the other security guards.