Browsing Tag: Saragarhi

It was with much sadness that I saw the below scene of the Saragarhi memorial in Amritsar.

Is it a lost battle? Is it a true narrative of events? Is it about the politics of the Raj or the Sikhs?

Reading a promising news item about a move by the veteran film actor, Sanjay Dutt, to make a movie on the historical battle of Saragarhi has made me want to share with the readers my thoughts on the issue of the proper commemoration of the great battle.

“I feel that the battle of Saragarhi was a very important historical event and people should be made aware of it. The country should know about the unsung heroes, who fought against 10,000 men for more than 10 hours to defend a post..."

In December 2009, writer-director Rohit Jugraj officially announced his next film, titled 21, based on that one day in the 1897 battle of Saragarhi, when 21 young Sikh soldiers guarded their post against an army of over 10,000 Afridi Pathans. While Jugraj got busy writing the screenplay for Abbas Mastan’s Players, Sanjay Dutt and Sunny Deol were also known to be exploring the same subject for their next.

Listen my friends and you shall hear, The story of a battle in the North West Frontier, On the twelfth of September, in ninety seven; Few men alive have any notion Of that famous day and year.

Turban stands for courage and self-respect for a Sikh. During the two World Wars, turbaned Sikh soldiers, who fought as part of the British Indian Army, refused to wear steel helmets, writes Major-Gen Kulwant Singh (retd).