Post by Punjab2000 on May 23, 2005 17:56:25 GMT
Ash in sikh temple clash, 20.5.05
AN EROTIC-FILM director came under fire from worshippers after angry claims about the behaviour of his production team in a gurdwara.
The committee of Ramgharia Gurdwara in Slough welcomed the Indian director Jag Mundhra and his production team last week (13).
The crew shot a traditional religious marriage ceremony scene inside the gurdwara for his mainstream film Provoked in front of a packed congregation.
Superstar Aishwarya Rai (pictured) , who plays the lead character of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, the wife who burned her husband to death in the UK after 10 years of violent abuse, was present in the gurdwara.
Members of the congregation told Eastern Eye that the production crew walked around in their shoes and with their heads uncovered. They have even complained to a couple of Sikh local councillors and are also angry with the gurdwara committee.
Jag Mundhra, who is moving towards mainstream film-making from his background in producing erotic thrillers, called the congregation "disrespectful".
Mundhra told Eastern Eye: "They were running around trying to get autographs and had their backs to the Guru Granth Sahib. Some were also queuing up to be extras. "We made sure that at all times we observed protocol set out by the very nice gurdwara committee.
"At no time did we intentionally offend anyone.
"This scene [the wedding] is very relevant to the story because it shows Kiranjit’s wedding in Punjab, which took place in a gurdwara. We didn’t use the whole religious ceremony and only filmed one laava [circling the holy book during the wedding ceremony] because Aishwarya didn’t want to really be married to that actor [Naveen Andrews]."
Cllr Sukhjit Dhaliwal pointed out other issues that offended Sikhs, in particular a director’s chair set up in front of the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book.
She said: "In Sikhism, no one should be sitting higher than the guru so the director was being disrespectful. The Gurdwara committee should have stopped him and been more responsible."
Mundhra claims he has a broken foot and was sitting in a corner and the committee members had told him about revering the holy book.
The gurdwara’s committee was unavaille to comment about the complaints made by some worshippers about the shooting.
Gurjeet Singh, spokesperson for Sikh Federation (UK), said: "It is entirely unacceptable to turn a gurdwara into a film set and use the Guru Granth Sahibji as a mere ‘object’ to perform parts of a ‘bogus’ marriage for a film."
see www.easterneyeonline.co.uk/
AN EROTIC-FILM director came under fire from worshippers after angry claims about the behaviour of his production team in a gurdwara.
The committee of Ramgharia Gurdwara in Slough welcomed the Indian director Jag Mundhra and his production team last week (13).
The crew shot a traditional religious marriage ceremony scene inside the gurdwara for his mainstream film Provoked in front of a packed congregation.
Superstar Aishwarya Rai (pictured) , who plays the lead character of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, the wife who burned her husband to death in the UK after 10 years of violent abuse, was present in the gurdwara.
Members of the congregation told Eastern Eye that the production crew walked around in their shoes and with their heads uncovered. They have even complained to a couple of Sikh local councillors and are also angry with the gurdwara committee.
Jag Mundhra, who is moving towards mainstream film-making from his background in producing erotic thrillers, called the congregation "disrespectful".
Mundhra told Eastern Eye: "They were running around trying to get autographs and had their backs to the Guru Granth Sahib. Some were also queuing up to be extras. "We made sure that at all times we observed protocol set out by the very nice gurdwara committee.
"At no time did we intentionally offend anyone.
"This scene [the wedding] is very relevant to the story because it shows Kiranjit’s wedding in Punjab, which took place in a gurdwara. We didn’t use the whole religious ceremony and only filmed one laava [circling the holy book during the wedding ceremony] because Aishwarya didn’t want to really be married to that actor [Naveen Andrews]."
Cllr Sukhjit Dhaliwal pointed out other issues that offended Sikhs, in particular a director’s chair set up in front of the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book.
She said: "In Sikhism, no one should be sitting higher than the guru so the director was being disrespectful. The Gurdwara committee should have stopped him and been more responsible."
Mundhra claims he has a broken foot and was sitting in a corner and the committee members had told him about revering the holy book.
The gurdwara’s committee was unavaille to comment about the complaints made by some worshippers about the shooting.
Gurjeet Singh, spokesperson for Sikh Federation (UK), said: "It is entirely unacceptable to turn a gurdwara into a film set and use the Guru Granth Sahibji as a mere ‘object’ to perform parts of a ‘bogus’ marriage for a film."
see www.easterneyeonline.co.uk/