Himanshu Singh Rajawat on ‘Sagwan’ vs Khesari Lal Yadav film: ‘No personal dispute, my fight is with content’

Himanshu Singh Rajawat will debut in the upcoming film ‘Sagwan’. He portrays a police officer in this gripping action-drama. Ahead of its release, fans are drawing parallels between ‘Sagwan’ and films starring Khesari Lal Yadav. In a recent interview, Himanshu addressed these comparisons with the popular Bhojpuri singer-actor.Talking to us exclusively, Himanshu said, “Comparison was bound to happen. Until now, ‘Sagwan’ had mostly been used in songs to symbolise bedroom vulgarity and breaking beds. Khesari ji’s song may have crossed 500 million views, but it also turned a strong wood like sagwan into a symbol of crudeness. I am coming with the same name, but my purpose is not to break beds — it is to challenge the blind faith spread by tantriks and criminals, and to awaken society. I never got a chance to meet him, but his “work” in Bhojpuri cinema is heard everywhere — especially in places where people look only for cheap entertainment. I have seen how millions of people consume and even celebrate that crudeness. But as a police officer, my concern is not the “masala,” it is the mindset that such songs create. I have no personal dispute with him; my fight is with the kind of content that is dragging society backwards.” He further added, “Whether it is Bhojpuri cinema or the web series dominating OTT platforms today, the industry has immense power. Sadly, that power is often used to sell nudity and abusive language. Until you move beyond broken beds and double-meaning songs, what message are you really giving to the world? Rajasthani cinema is awakening after 25 years, and we are here to prove that hard-hitting cinema like Sagwan can be made without any vulgarity. Now it is up to the audience to decide — do they want just dance and spectacle, or real social change?. Khesari’s song offered nothing more than cheap, superficial entertainment, but Rajawat’s film carries the pain of the uniform — pain he has personally experienced in remote forests. This film is based on real case files where innocent lives were taken because of blind faith and superstition.”Singh opened up about the film and said, “Releasing on January 16, 2026, this film has already earned praise from the censor board — without a single abusive word or any nudity. It is a sharp slap in the face of those filmmakers who claim that vulgarity is necessary to make a film work.”