Amarinder to makers of Saragarhi movies: Will take legal action if historical inaccuracies creep in

Speaking to The Indian Express, Amarinder, a military historian and a former officer of the Sikh Regiment himself, said, “The Battle of Saragarhi is an honour which is carried on the flags of 25 battalions of the Sikh Regiment. It will not be tolerated if the producers and directors of the movie do inadequate research and portray the battle in inaccurate light which affects the morale of the regiment. If they do so I will sue them”.

Amarinder said he did not want this famous battle of the Sikh Regiment to be reduced to a “song and dance movie” like the movie Border was which was based on the Battle of Longewala of 1971 Indo-Pak war.

“Let me tell you, I suspect they will make a mess of it. This is such a serious matter. I have spoken to the producers and I have told them about my sentiments. One of the producers, Raju Chadha has taken a Brigadier of our regiment to help maintain the historic authenticity. The other producer told me that they have done adequate research but I have told him that it is not enough and they must take one of our regimental historians on board,” said Amarinder.

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Amarinder’s Saragarhi crusade: Finding Daad

The actual soldiers who fought the Battle of Saragarhi on 12 September 1897 in North Western Frontier Province (NWFP), now Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, were 21 in number. However, Capt Amarinder wishes to trace the descendents of the 22nd person who died fighting that battle even though he was not a fighting soldier. “I have learnt that there was a Non-Combatant Enrolled (NCE), most probably a Bhishti or water carrier, who also fought in the battle, taking up the rifles of the soldiers killed. In British times, and even in the Indian Army till about 1971, the NCE was a not a regular soldier and was not supposed to fight. But this person, Daad, fought alongside the Sikh soldiers against the tribals and was killed,” he says.

While the 21 Sikh soldiers posthumously received the highest military decoration awarded to Indian soldiers at the time, the Indian Order of Merit, and generous land grant by the British to their next of kin, Daad’s sacrifice has gone unrecognised. “It is my endeavour to find out the descendents of this 22nd soldier of Battle of Saragarhi, who may have belonged to Nowshera, now in Pakistan, and to ensure that they at least receive recognition and monetary compensation for his brave deed,” says Capt Amarinder.