What makes a soldier ignore concerns about his life, his family behind and fight wars? The easy answer would be patriotism, the deep love one has for one’s country. However, what if you are not even fighting for your own country but people who dismissively term you slaves and treat you less than human? What drives you then? Diljit Dosanjh’s Sajjan Singh Rangroot could have answered those complex questions – at its heart, it is a brilliant story. Soldiers from pre-Independence India travelled all the way to Europe to fight against Germans and for their masters during World War 1.

Diljit’s Sajjan Singh is one such soldier but he is neither terrified of his masters, nor in awe of them. He is fighting because he belongs to a race of warriors, the Sikhs, and because somewhere he believes that if they win the ‘Great War’ for the British, his country may be made independent. As his friends fall during the battle, there is a moment of self doubt – “Will the masters respect their blood they are spilling? Will they make Punjab independent?” But other than that rare moment, what you get in the eponymously titled Sajjan Singh Rangroot are war tropes – some existing, others it just made up.