Chaar Sahibzaade

Synopsis

The film starts with invasions of India by Mughal and Turkish kings. Guru Tegh Bahadur (9th Guru of Sikhs) sacrificed his life for the human rights and freedom of religion of Kashmiri pandits. Then, Guru Gobind Singh founded the Khalsa to counter the invading forces with martyrdom as the fundamental principle.The film depicts the First Battle of Anandpur in which Mughal General Painde khan was killed by Guru Gobind Singh. The film also depicts the Battle of Chamkaur which took place in December, 1704 CE in which 42 Sikhs (under Guru Gobind singh) fought bravely against 10 lakh mughal forces (under Wazir Khan). In the battle of chamkaur,both the elder sons of Guru Gobind Singh Sahibzada Ajit Singh 18 years old and Sahibzada Jujhar Singh 14 years old were martyred.The mughals were in large number but still they failed to capture Guru Gobind Singh and hence Sikhs defeated Mughals. The Younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh Sahibzada Zorawar Singh who was 9 years old and Sahibzada Fateh Singh who was 7 years old were taken to Wazir Khan's palace and were cruelly and inhumanely executed by the Mughal ruler of Sirhind. Wazir Khan gave orders that masons were to brick the Gurus two youngest sons into a section of the city's wall.

Cast

Production

Pammi Baweja produced the film under the banner of Baweja movies. The Bollywood actor Harman Baweja is the creative producer of the film and Harry Baweja directed the film. The production took nearly five years. Harry Bajwa spent two years doing research for the project. He met the "Dharam Parchar Committee" of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and discussed his project. It is prohibited in Sikhism to depict Sikh Gurus in an animated form and their still images were used in this film. The voice artists for other characters were kept anonymous. The film was produced in Punjabi and Hindi and also dubbed in American English. Animation work for the movie was handled by iREALTIES and the film trailer was launched in Mumbai.

Music

Amrinder Gill sung "Mitar Pyaare Nu", while Jaspinder Narula and Shipra Goyal sung the song "Veyla aa gaya hai". Other tracks from the film are the title track "Chaar Sahibzaade", "Satguru Nanak Pargateya" and "Sochte Hue Guru". Harry Bajwa, Jaidev Kumar, Amar Mohile and Anand Raj Anand served as music directors. The songs were written by Harry Bajwa and Masroor.

Critical reception

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics for its story, animation and in-depth research. Jasmine Singh of The Tribune gave the movie 4.5 stars out of 5. He praised its story, calling it a realistic portrayal and commending the delivery of dialogue and narration by Puri. He regarded the animation quality highly especially as it was the first 3D animated Punjabi film. Shubha Shetty Saha of Mid Day gave the film 3 stars and acclaimed the story for its sincerity but criticized the animation for its apparent lack of flexibility and expressions on the faces of characters. Jesse Brar of PunjabiReviews.com also positively reviewed the story. He complimented the film's pacing and called it realistic by showing younger sons more like children and not morally objectified. He also approved of the film for keeping the story historical and "saving itself from becoming religious propaganda." Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India gave the film 3.5 stars. She enjoyed the film overall and recommended it for children to show them real Indian heroes.

Box office

In India, the film earned 3.5–4 crore in the first week. In the United States, the film earned ₹56.24 lakh (US$88,000) and ₹79.45 lakh (£95,000) in the UK. In total it earned ₹2.27 crore (US$350,000) at the international box office across its opening weekend.

DVD/Blu-ray Release

It is available on the DVD format but the Blu-ray edition is yet to be confirmed.

Sequel

A sequel titled Chaar Sahibzaade: Rise of Banda Singh Bahadur was released on 11 November 2016.