The Lions of London

The contribution of Sikh soldiers to the British war effort in World War I and World War II is a chapter of history that rarely gets the attention it deserves. Sikhs accounted for 22% of the British Armed Forces in the First World War at a time when they made up only 2% of India's population — a level of participation that was disproportionate by any measure. The Battle of Neuve-Chapelle, the Brighton Royal Pavilion's use as a hospital for Indian soldiers, the 83,000 Sikh soldiers who died across both wars: the film assembles these facts into a portrait of sacrifice that shaped British history without ever being fully acknowledged within it.

The Lions of London is a film about memory and recognition. The veterans and descendants who speak in it aren't asking for gratitude as an abstract sentiment; they're asking for an accurate account of what happened and what Sikh soldiers did. The film makes the case that the gap between that sacrifice and its public recognition is not a minor oversight but a significant failure of historical honesty — and that correcting it matters, for the community that gave so much and for the country that received it.