When the trailer for Sardaar Ji 3 dropped, it didn’t take long for social media to light up. The appearance of Pakistani actress Hania Aamir opposite Diljit Dosanjh immediately drew attention—and criticism. Director Amar Hundal and producers Gunbir Singh Sidhu and Manmord Sidhu also found themselves at the center of the storm. Things took a more serious turn after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, 2025. The already strained ties between India and Pakistan worsened, and calls to ban the film in India grew louder.
The Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) responded swiftly, issuing a notice aimed directly at the filmmakers.
“Those who are actively involved in the film industry and are aware of day-to-day activities know that this film was shot in February-March 2025 itself,” Sidhu explained. According to him, filming happened in the UK when relations between the two nations were calm. “There was no such atmosphere,” he said. Everything was running normally, with no government restrictions in place at the time.
Sidhu said the film wasn’t released in India out of respect for public sentiment following the terror attack.
“When we came to know about this attack, we decided that we would not release the film India, because we did not want to hurt the sentiments of our people in any way,” he said. “We too were hurt by this incident. Keeping this honour in mind, we decided that the film will be released only overseas because our major investment is there. There was no restriction from any government overseas, so it was decided to release there.” He also pointed out, “We did not put the trailer on YouTube in India, nor did we do any kind of promotional activities.”
Naturally, the controversy reignited the ongoing debate around Pakistani actors being cast in Indian films.
“I have no two opinions on this,” Sidhu said firmly. He added that when one country is trying to support the other, but terror attacks continue to happen, it feels like “thankless behaviour. And I do not support it.”
Sidhu also questioned the idea of a formal ban. He pointed to several recent films that featured Pakistani actors and still received censor clearance. If there truly was a ban, he argued, how were these films approved?
Censor board approvals, according to Sidhu, contradict the idea of any official prohibition. Still, recently a film, Abir Gulaal, got a censor certificate which has big names like Fawad Khan and Vaani Kapoor; if there was a problem, it would not have been passed by the censor board, he noted.
In response to the Pahalgam attack, which killed 26 civilians, India launched Operation Sindoor, hitting nine terror bases—four in Pakistan and five in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Some public comments made during the controversy also came under fire. On this, Sidhu said, “I believe that they should not have made such statements. But I cannot go further than that. What I can say is those things shouldn’t have happened, and she hit below the belt.”
He also spoke about the financial setback of not releasing the movie in India.
“My last movie was Jatt and Juliet 3, which featured Diljit and Neeru and was released last year,” he said. “It is the first-ever Punjabi film to achieve the Rs 100 crore worldwide box office collection milestone. Out of this, 40% came from India, while 60% came from overseas markets. So you assume that we have a business of about 40 crore from India and 60 crore from abroad. In such a situation, it is clear that 40% of our revenue loss has happened.”
Summing it all up, Sidhu added, “Now we have taken this decision with full strength that we will not work with any Pakistani artist from now on.”
