Q: There have been some allegations leveled upon you for opening a salon. �Being a Sikh, do you think it is okay to operate such a businesses?
A:�The first thing is Dinesh Sood is my friend from college.� Orane is his business and it is not a salon, it is an institute.� He has been running it since 2009.� Being a celebrity and an actor, he requested me to come for the inauguration.� Since I have been in the news recently, they asked me to do the inauguration.� Dinesh Sood and I have multiple businesses together, but we also do other things independently.� However in this particular business, I am not working with Dinesh Sood.
Q: Even though you do not own the Institute, we feel that it doesn�t look good for a Gursikh to inaugurate such places as it sets a wrong example.
A: What you are saying is correct.� I understand that it doesn�t look good because of my present look.� Had I gone in my previous look, it wouldn�t have been an issue.� But tell me if I have made a mistake by keeping my kesh?� The photo you are looking at, I was that kind of person before Sadda Haq.� I was clean shaven.� I had the thought of making Sadda Haq for a long time; that this message should be relayed.� The Sikh community went through a great struggle; I personally lost my own brother.� This was despite the fact that I was clean shaven and far away from Sikhi.
When Sant Jarnail Singh came to the forefront, who knows how many clean shaven and drug addicts he inspired.� Sant Ji brought those people back into Sikhi.� Should we have kicked those people out because they were apostate?
Our religion teaches us that even if a person makes a mistake, we still share love with them.� Our hearts should be so open that even if someone makes several mistakes, we still recognize their qualities and appreciate them.
I feel I have only accomplished one thing that is worthwhile and given something to society.� In Sadda Haq, two Hindu brothers invested 50% into the movie, while myself and a friend of mine invested 25% each.
But you are right; it doesn�t look good in my present look to do these things.� But a person takes time to change from within.� In the past I was clean shaven and used to commit even the cardinal sins.� It takes time for one to become pure from inside out.� Secondly, I want to mention that I had only kept kesh for the movie.� However afterwards, a lot of people from my industry, my friends and other well-wishers, told me that since now I am a superstar, I will be getting a lot of other opportunities so I should return to my previous look. �They told me that If I remain in my Sardar look, I will not get any other movies and that was very true.
I was offered a Hindu movie �Cactus� directed by Sachin Saluja.� When I read the script, I decided that it doesn�t go with my Sadda Haq image and plus it had vulgarity so I decided against it.� Gurdeep Dhillon, a Vancouver based producer also offered me a movie named �Jatt James Bond� when I was in Vancouver.� What I am trying to say is that because of my saroop, I suffered monetary losses but I still continued to maintain it.� I did it because after Sadda Haq I received a lot of respect and regard from the audience.� I saw that the youth started admiring me, many kept kesh and started wearing dastars.� I thought that if I cut my kesh now, it will send the wrong message, so I decided to maintain my identity.
Q: How do you feel about the movement started by Bhai Gurbaksh Singh?
The entire Sikh community supports the cause of Bhai Gurbaksh Singh and I also stand with it.� As a humble Sikh, I have gone to visit him twice.
Q: What role do you feel foreign based Sikhs can play in this movement?
Foreign Sikhs definitely provide their monetary support to anyone doing good work.� Secondly, I feel an important role that foreign Sikhs should play is by raising awareness.� Just recently this past month, a demonstration was held outside the United Nations headquarters.�� They should try to convince other people abroad that Sikhs are facing injustice in India.� This is a big task and for any change, support from the foreign Sikh community is needed.� However at the same time, we also need the support of human rights organizations such as Amnesty and UN.
Q: It was good to see you work together with Dinesh Sood, a Hindu, on the Sadda Haq movie project. �What is the response of Hindus to Bhai Gurbaksh Singh’s movement?
The Hindu community is mostly quiet, only a handful people like DGP Shashi Kant are raising their voice and we should definitely encourage them.� I personally think that whatever work Shashi Kant is doing is commendable.� However, many of our people are pointing fingers at him and calling him an agent.� If anyone has any proof of anything against Shashi Kant, they should share it publicly.� It is very wrong of our community to make statements on Facebook and discourage him.
Our community happens to have many people who are communal-minded.� We should not be like that.� The Gurus taught us to treat everyone equally.� If Sikhs started hating Hindus or others, then we cannot be called Sikhs.� Sikhs should have open hearts and even if the majority of Hindus do not support us, we should still encourage whoever stands with us.� This will help others to also rise up.� People like Shashi Kant, Dinesh Sood and AR Darshi who wrote a book on Sant Jarnail Singh Ji should be highlighted.
Q: Tell us about your future projects or if you are working on any other projects like the Sadda Haq movie.
A: Sadda Haq was my dream project and I worked on it for several years.� I thank Guru Sahib for making it a success.� My next dream is to make a movie on the 1984 Operation Bluestar and the legend of Sant Jarnail Singh Ji.� I don�t mind if someone else works on this but it�s my dream to see it happen.� I have approached Hollywood producers and shared my concept with them.� I even shared the story but so far there has not been any other development on it.� If Guru Sahib does kirpa, we will definitely work on it.
Besides that, we are working on a different movie titled �Yodha�.� Yodha film focuses on the Sikh identity and explains what a Gursikh is.� After watching this movie, our community will once again appreciate our efforts.� There are many misconceptions about Sikhs by people living abroad and even in India.� People even make jokes at Sikhs’ expense.� This is a unique story and at this time I cannot share too many details since the work is still in progress.� The same team from Sadda Haq is working on this project.
I am trying to raise awareness of Sikhi even though I am personally not a good Sikh myself.� But like I said earlier, the seed of Sikhi is present and our community needs to help foster it.
