Puneet’s next, I Am Singh

Actor-turned-director Puneet Issar who hasmade “I Am Singh” will focus on the hardships Sikhs had to go through post the9/11 attack. The director wanted to make the movie so authentic that he haskept no room for diplomacy and has based it on real stories, facts, dates andfigures. “Sikhs are living in the US since 1897, and post the 9/11 attack theywere beaten up as they were taken for Arabs, Afghanis or Muslims. Doesn’t thissound weird? I mean they are living in America for 114 years and then they get beatenup. This is what motivated me to make this film, to show a true picture of thesituation,” he said.
It was after a four-year research thathe came up with a script based on the hate crime issue. But with such asubject, the film, which is majorly shot in the US, had to go through a lot ofhardships, confirms Issar. “Every time we had to shoot, we needed permissionand each time they would go through the script just to see what we areportraying in the film. At times it was difficult, like when we had to get lawenforcement clearances, etc,” he said.
But after 9/11, there were many filmson the same lines, so why did he think of coming up with I Am Singh now? “Myfilm focusses on the problems faced by the Sikhs, something which no otherfilms have done so far. For example, My Name Is Khan is a take on life post9/11 but with a Muslim angle.”
The film, that hasbeen shot at various parts of US including Los Angeles, San Francisco and LasVegas, is set to release on December 2.