ওয়াশিংটন বাংলা রেডিও Washington Bangla Radio USA

Quite a few films in India have been made about Muslims being targeted during 9/11. (New York and Kurbaan) There was also a film called ‘Maachis’ that spoke about Sikhs being targeted during the 84 riots. So after 10 years of 9/11 does another film on the same topic of minorities being targeted make any sense? Probably not, especially not ‘I am Singh.’ 

I Am Singh (Hindi/Punjabi, 2011) Film Trailer

This film talks about Sikhs in US being the target of racial discrimination. A family is in trouble, no one helps other than a Pakistani guy. It is a fact that the turbans were the cause of mistaken identity and most of the westerners associated this headgear with Islam. The issue is showed in this film as the main problem. Puneet Issar( the director and the actor) plays a NYPD cop who is fired because he refuses to give up his turban.

The hero of the film, Gulzar Chahal is stiff and will take a long time to be established in the film world. The plot is old and there isn’t anything new here; the same old ones like blame the muslims or Sikhs or even Asians. The dialogues are pathetic and so is the way those are delivered. 

The storyline narrates some incidents post 9/11 and the bad guys are a group of local goons. That’s not the problem in the society. This kind of racial discrimination is seen and heard of in Australia, not necessarily in the US and certainly not when the problem is bigger.

Puneet Issar shot to fame when everyone knew him as the man who could have killed Big B while shooting for Coolie. Second was his role as Duryodhan in TV series Mahabharat that made him an overnight star. He is a good actor, may not be of the A level but it is disappointing to see him in this film in a totally unimpressive role.

None of the casts perform well in the film and why was this film made and released after so many years, remains a big question. I Am Singh is a total failure at the box office and maybe someone could request actor/director Puneet Issar to make a film on current issues and not something that has been experienced a decade back.