Sikh Park comics will not get religious or political, says artist Dalbir Singh

The Supreme Court recently heard a plea for ban on websites hosting Sardar jokes as they ridiculed the community. But not all jokes or content that is focused on the Sikh community ridicule them. Sikh Park, a comic strip on the Punjabi Sikh community, celebrates their uniqueness and reinforces all the positive characteristics of the community. The comics are colourful, fun and highlight what people love about the community. Artist Dalbir Singh, the creator of the comic, talks to dna about how he came up the idea, why he chose the Sikh community and where he'd like to take the comic in the future. 

How did you come up with the idea of Sikh Park?

A friend was starting a website which was on the art and culture of the Sikhs, where he wanted to have a section on humour. We thought of a comic for Sikhs would work best if it had Sikh characters as there was none around. There was one comic called SikhToon but it is mostly political and we wanted a light-hearted non-political comic. We thought of calling it Karol Bagh (Bagh meaning Park in Hindi/Punjabi), an area in Delhi with large Sikh Punjabi population. However, we thought our mostly American-born and raised Sikh Punjabi audience would not be able to recall that name. So then we decided to call it Sikh Park which sounded cool, could connect with the young American-Indian people. The initial comic was dwelling more on challenges faced by Sikhs in a post 9/11 world, some taken from my own personal experiences, like random checks at the airport, immigration, etc. Some were a bit exaggerated for humour.Since I moved back to India a couple of years ago, the humour has been more generic Punjabi Sikh everyday life. Be it food or arranged marriage, etc. I stay out of religion and politics.

Where do you get the inspiration for each comic strip from?

I just have to look around my own family and relatives. It's all there. I try to look into Punjabi insights. So there is a lot of comic on food, clothing, visas/immigration etc. There are some which are topical. For example, when a Sikh gentlemen was named the Canadian Defence Minister, we did a comic on him. Recently, a Sikh basketball player in the US called Darsh Singh was targeted in racist meme attack on Facebook and Twitter (and eventually people came back in his support in large numbers) so I made a comic on him. Or the recent one with Waris Ahluwalia. But the topics are the one that the community can associate with and relate to, be it a popular Punjabi culture (we had one of rajma chawal that went super viral) or a hate crime somewhere in the West.

What makes the Sikh community unique - since your comic strip is on them?

I would go with the popular stereotype of the Sikh community. Large hearted, fun loving, colourful, close-knit community and hard-working. 

Is it easy to come up worth these comic strips?

Not easy. I try to make two strips each week and it gets harder and harder. The main reason is I want to keep the humour based on Punjabi Sikh insight. So I try not to make any random comic without relating it to the Punjabi Sikh community. Otherwise it would be quite easy. The other difficult part is to make sure no one gets offended, which kills lot of ideas or dilutes humour but a comic based on a community and religion and you are already treading on a thin line.

Where would like to take your comic strip? 

It would be great to have a Sikh Park animated series. While it is fairly popular on social media (albeit with the Punjabi Sikh community) I think it could only reach critical mass with an animated series. And once it is popular enough, there are a million things you could do around it like merchandise, etc.

Do you think India is still a big market for comic strips?

I do not have enough data to comment on that, perhaps because I have grown out of that age group. But as someone in the film business, I feel India is a big market for animated or comic-inspired movies. Not sure if Chhota Bheem would have had as much success if it were a simple comic strip. As people are moving more and more to smartphones, content is king and there is a tremendous scope for animated series. Bollywood has also had a couple of superhero movies.

If someone wants to start making comic strips, what are the some of the things they need to be /do?

Have a theme and idea. What would the comic be about and follow that to the tee. Create a unique illustration style that sets your comic apart. Be regular. Keep a fixed day every week/month when you will post the comic and follow that religiously. Have a good social media presence.