The News Minute | August 31, 2014 | 08:00 am IST
This man has taken 'sardarji' jokes to a whole new level; and it is called 'FUN'.
Dalbir Singh, an ad film producer, is the mind behind Sikh Park, a series of web cartoons based on Sikhs, that he creates and publishes on every Tuesday and Saturday. The comics are inspired by the nitty-gritties of the Sikh way of life.
Around seven years ago, while Singh was living in Canada, he decided to create comics for a friend's website in the 'art and culture' section. He came up with the idea of making comics on the Sikh diaspora living there.
( The first Sikh Park comic )
"I create my comics in a way that Sikhs can relate to the humour, but even non-Sikhs can understand them", says Singh. "I do try to get clever with the comics, but have realised that the simplest ones are more popular and get the most likes".
However, Singh denies any connection of his comics to those of South Park, an American animated adult sitcom that is satiric in nature and shares some resemblance with Sikh Park. "I have never seen South Park. I cannot associate with that kind of humour. It may have had an influence on my work initially, but not now. I feel people will always associate my comic with the sitcom, but I have to move away from it", he says. "I wanted to initially name it Karol Bagh, but since my target audience then were the Sikhs living in Canada I changed it to Sikh Park".
Singh, until a couple of months ago, hadn't been a regular in creating and publishing his novels for sometime . That is why he set himself a deadline. Sikh Park's Facebook page reads, 'New comic every Tuesday and Saturday'. He says he is more efficient since now the audience know which days they will get a new comic, and that is what drives him to finish his work within the time limit.
"Ideas are not that difficult. It is the execution that takes times", states Singh.
"I run an ad film production house and it is sort of difficult to juggle both, simultaneously. I haven't figured out yet how to make money out of it. I am hoping that someday I will have the resources to make an animated series. This could be my retirement job", says Singh whose comics, in a way, are breaking various stereotypes on Sikhs.
