BATHINDA, Punjab—Kuljinder Singh Sidhu and Dinesh Sood, director and producer of film ‘Sadda Haq’ are close friends and once roommates who come from Sikh and Hindu families, respectively, but they had never thought that the film they were going to make would face the allegations of hurting communal harmony.
Speaking to HT, Sidhu and Sood said, “We had been friends since 1997 when we started our masters in journalism course at GNDU campus in Jalandhar. We have had joint ventures, which continued for long time.”
“We both are theists and practice respective religions. When we first thought of making movie on this topic, we never thought that our work would be questioned for hurting communal harmony. We had planned to make this movie that surely had nothing to do with communalism and it was based on ‘the truth and the tragedy’ witnessed by Punjab during the days of militancy,” said Sidhu.
Sood added that, “There had never been communal disharmony in Punjab during that tragic period. The fight against the centralised power in those days was against the system and not against any community but the role played by black cats polluted the movement. To reveal the truth, we decided to make a film and bring out the facts when humanity was shamed and innocent people were murdered in fake police encounters.”
On Friday, the team of ‘Sadda Haq’ reached Bathinda and watched the movie with the audience for few minutes before the intermission and addressed mediapersons during the break.
A zealous audience clapped time and again in the cinema hall.
Talking to mediapersons, Kuljinder Singh Sidhu and his team claimed that the Punjab government committed a mistake by imposing a ban on the film “but now we thank the government for their support”.
Sidhu added that, “Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal deployed police force in all cinema halls to avoid possibility of violence.”
He regretted the ban over the film that is still on in Delhi and said, “Even after the orders of the Supreme Court for release of the film, the Delhi government has not lifted the ban. With the team of four advocates, we had sent the copy of the Supreme Court orders to the authorities concerned in Delhi where the ban on the screening of ‘Sadda Haq’ has not been lifted. “The authorities, who are worried about violence, should resign if they are incapable of maintaining law and order but freedom of speech and expression should not be suppressed.”
