Legend (backed by regimental war diaries) holds that Sajjan Singh was not a seasoned Jamedar or Subedar when he arrived. He was the Rangroot —the new boy. The senior British officers saw him as just another colonial number. The German intelligence, however, saw the Sikhs as “the Emperor’s madmen” for advancing in brightly colored puggris.
The turning point came during the Battle of Neuve-Chapelle in March 1915. The British offensive had stalled. Wire was uncut. Machine gun nests at the Port Arthur salient were chewing up the advancing waves. As the British officers fell—their khaki uniforms blending poorly with the mud, their tactical rigidity failing—the command structure dissolved.
This is the story of , a name that became synonymous with a rare and controversial title: Rangroot .
In the landscape of Punjabi cinema, which often leans heavily towards romantic comedies and family dramas, Sajjan Singh Rangroot (2018) stands out as a seminal war film. Directed by Pankaj Batra and starring Diljit Dosanjh in the titular role, the film serves as a poignant exploration of a largely forgotten chapter of history: the contribution of Sikh soldiers in the British Indian Army during World War I.