'Guru Nanak Jahaj' Revives Vancouver’s Komagata Maru Incident

A new Panjabi movie on the 1914 Komagata Maru episode, Guru Nanak Jahaj, has been reviewed by historian-commentator Harjeshwar Singh as a meticulous retelling of Gurdit Singh’s attempt to land migrants from undivided Panjab in Canada and their clash with colonial racism. The film shows customs officer William Hopkinson, collaborator Bela Singh, and Ghadarite activist Mewa Singh at odds over the passengers’ fate. It depicts white supremacist hostility in Vancouver and follows parallel scenes of daily life for early Panjabi settlers. Harjeshwar highlights the production’s attention to period costumes, dialects, sets, and its choice to show collaborators as complex rather than purely villainous. He notes that Panjabi cinema has lately moved beyond formula comedies and romances, citing this title and the recent working-class drama Mitran Da Challeya Truck Ni (Friend’s Truck Rolls) as signs of broader themes taking hold. While praising authenticity, he points out that the screenplay is slow in places yet sees the project as a tide-turner for regional filmmaking. A parallel Canadian production is also foregrounding Panjabi Sikh history in Canada. The Unknown Soldier—a short film scheduled for release next year—is co-directed by Wilfrid Laurier University graduates Aviel Kurulkar and Javier Alfaro; it was financed through regional fundraising. The story follows a young Sikh who, despite conflict with his father, enlists to fight for Canada in the First World War (WW1) and must reconcile religious identity with battlefield reality. Lead actor Ajinkya Dhage prepared by growing a beard and learning to tie the turban. Filming used locations across southwestern Ontario, including a full-scale replica trench and authentic WW1 uniforms and weapons supplied by the Canadian Historical Society in Chatham. Research trips included the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Kitchener grave of Private Buckam Singh, the only known Sikh Canadian casualty grave from that war. Producers aim to premiere the film at the Toronto International Film Festival and to widen awareness of Panjabi Sikh roles in Canada’s military past.