THE ASIAN INDEPENDENT UK
Bal Ram Sampla
Geopolitics
In late 2025, the streets of Hull were transformed. Vintage cars rolled through the city centre, a performing arts academy became a police station, and a murder scene was staged under Myton Bridge. The occasion was the filming of Dastaar — a Hindi-language crime drama rooted in the real experiences of Sikh immigrants who arrived in Britain decades ago and faced prejudice, hardship and discrimination.
The Film and Its Story
Dastaar — meaning “Turban” in Punjabi — is set in 1980s Britain and stars Tarsem Singh Jassar, a major acting and music figure in the Punjab region of India. It is described as a gritty action story of courage, faith and overcoming adversity, drawing directly from the lived experiences of Sikh men and women who migrated to the United Kingdom in the post-war decades and found themselves navigating a society that was often hostile to their presence and identity.
The title itself carries deep meaning. In Sikhism, the dastaar is far more than a piece of cloth. It represents honour, self-respect, courage and faith.
For Sikh men in 1980s Britain, wearing a turban made them visibly and unmistakably different — and in a climate of racial tension and discrimination, that visibility came at a cost. The film’s title is therefore both literal and symbolic, gesturing toward the burden and the pride of maintaining one’s identity in the face of prejudice.
A True Story
The film is grounded in history. From the 1950s onwards, Sikh and South Asian communities settled across northern England in significant numbers, drawn by work in industries such as steel, textiles and manufacturing. By the 1980s, when Dastaar is set, racial discrimination was a daily reality for many. Britain’s early 1980s were marked by social unrest, economic hardship and race riots in several cities. Against this backdrop, Sikh immigrants faced not only economic struggle but also cultural erasure — pressure to assimilate, to remove their turbans, to become invisible.
Dastaar gives voice to those experiences. It is part of a broader and growing movement in British and South Asian cinema to reclaim and dramatise stories that mainstream culture has long overlooked. By basing the narrative on real events, the filmmakers ensure that the struggles of an entire community are not forgotten — and that younger generations, both within and outside the Sikh community, can encounter that history through the power of dramatic storytelling.
Why Hull?
The choice of Hull as the primary filming location was driven by several factors. Cost was certainly one of them — filming in the region is considerably cheaper than in and around London, making it a practical decision for a production managing a substantial international crew. But economics alone does not explain the choice.
Hull offered authentic locations that suited the 1980s period setting. Trinity House Lane, the Humber Bridge, Carlton Towers near Goole, and the Old Tile Yard in Barton all featured in the shoot. The city’s architecture and streetscapes provided a convincing backdrop for a story set in industrial northern England four decades ago, with minimal need for expensive set construction.
Equally important was the involvement of Hull-based Northern Films, which supported the shoot and acted as a local production partner. This relationship gave the Punjabi producers a grounded, experienced local team to work with — reducing logistical risk and embedding the production within the regional film community.
Economic Impact
The results for Hull were striking. Over nine weeks of filming in late 2025, Dastaar injected an estimated £1.2 million into the local economy. The bulk of this came from accommodating and feeding the 130-strong crew who flew in from India — hotels and catering forming the largest share of expenditure. Beyond that, the production hired local actors, rented equipment, sourced period-appropriate vehicles, and paid location fees across multiple sites.
One local business, the Tapasya Indian restaurant on Hull Marina, prepared 100 meals three times a day throughout the shoot — a vivid illustration of how a single film production can sustain local enterprises over an extended period. In total, Northern Films processed over 700 individual payments to local suppliers and individuals, a figure that speaks to the breadth of the economic ripple effect.
Andrew Fenton of Northern Films noted that most productions using Hull arrive from London, film briefly, and leave without leaving much behind. Dastaar was different. It stayed, it spent, and it built relationships. Fenton’s broader ambition is to use productions like this as a foundation for developing real film infrastructure in the region — particularly a dedicated sound stage — so that local people can build sustainable careers in film and television without having to relocate to the capital.
Conclusion
Dastaar is, in many ways, a film about belonging — about what it means to hold onto your identity in a place that does not always welcome you. That theme resonates beyond its 1980s setting. The production’s relationship with Hull is itself a kind of belonging: a major international film choosing to root itself in a northern English city, spend its money there, and tell a story that deserves to be told.
The £1.2 million economic impact is the headline figure, but the deeper significance lies elsewhere — in the representation of a community whose history has too rarely reached the screen, and in the possibility that Hull might become, in time, a genuine home for ambitious, internationally minded filmmaking. Dastaar is scheduled for worldwide cinema release in July 2026. Hull, it seems, will be watching.
References
1.https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/society/culture/movie-magic-in-hull-new-film-dastaar-marks-big-screen-milestone-for-east-yorkshire/
2.https://www.inkl.com/news/bollywood-crime-drama-dastaar-filmed-in-uk-brings-1-2m-boost-to-local-economy
3.https://www.easterneye.biz/dastaar-film-hull-economy-1-2m-local-shoot/
4.https://www.thehullstory.com/allarticles/punjabi-film-dastaar-economic-impact
