'The election of a Sikh prime minister has given much-needed impetus to boost the image of a turbaned Sikh. Not only this, we have many turbaned Sikhs at senior positions in the government of the US, Britain and other developed countries,' he added.

Salman recently played the role of a brave Sikh soldier in 'Heroes' but the film did not do too well.

Actor Sunny Deol - who comes from a Sikh family but like his actor father Dharmendra and brother Bobby Deol has shorn hair - had acted as a Sikh hero in two Hindi films, 'Gadar - Ek Prem Katha' and 'Jo Bole So Nihal', a few years ago.

Shah Rukh Khan-starrer super-hit film 'Main Hoon Na' had actor Kabir Bedi playing the role of a Sikh army general. Ajay Devgun also donned a turban to play the character of Bhagat Singh as a Sikh in 'The legend of Bhagat Singh'.

Mumbai-born Sikh youth Jaspal Singh Sehgal showed that the turban and beard were no impediment when he became the first runner-up in the Grasim Mr India contest in 2002. His win initiated a new wave among Sikh youth, especially in Sikh-community dominated Punjab, to sport a turban and beard.

'The presence of a Punjabi character makes Bollywood movie more cosmopolitan. Due to the presence of a large Punjabi diaspora in America and Europe, movies with Punjabi flavour are easily acceptable among them,' Manmohan Singh, a prominent Punjabi filmmaker and an accomplished Bollywood cinematographer, told IANS.

'In fact, I am also thinking of making a Hindi film with a Sikh central character in the near future. Earlier, we had seen that a turbaned character is portrayed in a comical sense to add some humour to the movie, but now audiences have started taking it seriously,' said Singh, a director who is credited with modernising Punjabi cinema.

Singh has made successful Punjabi films like 'Jee Aayian Nu', 'Asan Nun Maan Watna Da', 'Yaran Nal Bahran', 'Dil Apna Punjabi', 'Miti Wajan Mardi' and 'Munde UK De'. He is known for highlighting various issues -- from immigration to trans-continental love -- through his narratives.

Earlier, portrayal of Sikhs in films was mostly for comical situations. Sikh comedians Jaspal Bhatti and Gurpreet Ghuggi have been featured in Hindi films in comic roles.

(Jaideep Sarin and Alkesh Sharma can be contacted at jaideep.s@ians.in and alkesh.s@ians.in)