Sikh Stories Aren’t Bollywood Scripts — They are often misinformed.
Let’s be honest here: our generation barely knows anything real about our own history.
We’ve heard of Kesari, not the 1984 genocide.
We might know “Punjabiyan Di Shaan Wakhri” from TikTok, but not what happened in 1947 when Punjab was ripped apart during Partition.
We watched 9/11 unfold as kids, but most of us have no idea that Sikhs were murdered in hate crimes right after, mistaken for terrorists because of their turbans & beards.
And when the world’s largest peaceful protest — the Farmers' Protest — was led by mostly Sikh farmers in 2020– Present, the mainstream media and Bollywood barely blinked until it became a photo op.
How did we get here?
And why does it seem like Bollywood and the mainstream media only care about Sikh stories when there’s money, nationalism, or awards involved?
The Real History We’re Not Taught
1947: During the Partition, Punjab was the epicentre.
Sikhs lost everything — land, families, culture — in one of the bloodiest and most traumatic displacements in history.
1984: After PM Indira Gandhi was assassinated, thousands of Sikhs were butchered in state-backed pogroms.
It wasn’t a riot. It was a massacre.
And it’s still not formally recognized as a genocide.
Post-9/11: Sikhs in the diaspora — especially in the US and Canada — were attacked in hate crimes.
The first person murdered in “revenge” after 9/11 was a Sikh gas station owner in Arizona.
Farmers’ Protest: Over 700 lives lost. Hundreds arrested, elderly tear-gassed and beaten.
All this was aimed at fighting against the corporate takeover of agriculture, but most of India ignored it until it made international headlines.
And now?
Punjab, once called the breadbasket of India — one of the richest and proudest states — is now among the poorest: addiction, unemployment, and environmental collapse.
Why?
Decades of state neglect, failed policies, and systemic erasure.
But none of that matters to Bollywood unless there’s a plot that sells or a song that trends.
The truth is ugly
Bollywood doesn’t give a damn about real Sikh stories. Not the trauma, not the politics, not the pain.
They want Sikh soldiers, not Sikh revolutionaries. They’ll show you turbans, not teachings. And they’ll never show you dissent—unless it’s watered down.
Meanwhile, real Sikh voices — especially in the diaspora — are being surveilled, threatened, and silenced.
Canadian officials revealed that India is using organized crime networks to carry out arsons, assassinations, and threats — all to suppress Sikh voices abroad.
Let that sink in.
So, Where Do We Go From Here?
This isn’t just about representation anymore.
It’s about survival. It’s about truth. It’s about reclaiming our history from those who continually try to repackage it for profit.
If Bollywood won’t tell the story right, we will.
If the media won’t cover it, we will record it.
If schools won’t teach it, we’ll pass it on ourselves — through music, poetry, film, social media, and most importantly, through each other.
Because Sikh history is not a costume.
It’s a legacy of resistance.
And the world deserves to hear it — you need to be unfiltered, unwashed, and unapologetically a Sikh.