Akal Takht announces ban on release of film Nanak Shah Fakir

With a section of the Sikhs opposing the film 'Nanak Shah Fakir' for its portrayal of the Sikh Gurus as living human beings, the Akal Takht on Monday announced a ban on its release scheduled for April 13. "We have imposed a ban on the controversial movie 'Nanak Shah Fakir'. The film cannot be released (on April 13)," Akal Takht Jathedar Gurbachan Singh told the media in Amritsar, around 250 km from Chandigarh.

The Akal Takht is the highest temporal seat of Sikh religion. He said the religious sentiments of the community had been hurt over the portrayal of the Sikh masters. The movie was earlier to be released in 2015, but it was shelved following the controversy.

With a number of Bollywood and Punjabi movies running into trouble vis-a-vis Sikh organisations over the portrayal of community members and the Sikh Gurus, the Akal Takht also decided to constitute a Sikh Censor Board on the matter. In future, the Jathedar said, filmmakers will be required to seek the approval of the said board before starting a movie project in which Sikh religion or Sikhs were to be portrayed or highlighted in any manner.