Govt plans to move Appellate Tribunal against Punjabi film

The Centre is contemplating to move to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal to stop the release of a Punjabi film, which allegedly glorifies the assassins of former Army Chief Gen A S Vaidya.
The movie, 'Jinda and Sukha', based on the lives of Harjinder Singh Jinda and Sukhdev Singh Sukha, who killed Gen Vaidya in 1986 in Pune after he led the Operation Bluestar operation to flush out militants from the Golden temple complex in Amritsar.
"The film is glorifying the acts of Gen Vaidya's killers, which is objectionable. We want the Appellate Tribunal to review the film and take a view," a Home Ministry official said.

The Home Ministry move came after the Censor Board cleared the film after several cuts. The Film Certification Appellate Tribunal is the apex body which takes final call on film release in case of dispute.
The Intelligence Bureau has already red flagged the release of 'Jinda and Sukha', said to be produced by an Australia-based proprietor of 'Singh Brothers Production" and 'Braveheart Productions' of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.
IB said that some shots of the movie were taken during the observance of the death anniversary of Jinda and Sukha on October 9 last year in Amritsar.
It said such films portray erstwhile militants as "saviours of the Sikh community" and has pointed out that two films on similar topics were made in 2013 and 2014 too, with the latter movie 'Kaum De Heere' (Jewels of the Community), made on the life of Indira Gandhi's assassins, not being cleared by the Censor Board.

The intelligence agencies also reported that there have been a "sudden race" to make Punjabi films to exploit Sikh sentiments on issues like Operation Bluestar and 1984 anti-Sikh riots, with four such films produced by persons based in Canada and Australia to be released in the coming months.