Punjabi singer and actor Ranjit Bawa’s music video which used Elveden Church and Thetford’s Maharajah Duleep Singh statue is released

A Punjabi music video which used a Suffolk church and Norfolk statue as its main filming locations has dropped this week.

Ranjit Bawa, the world-famous singer and actor with more than 10 million followers on social media, was seen at St Andrew's and St Patrick's Church in Elveden, and at the statue of Maharajah Duleep Singh in Thetford with a film crew and extras in July.

Now his song, The Last Emperor, which Ranjit describes as ‘An incomplete dream of Maharaja Dalip Singh and the entire Sikh community and Punjabis’ on his official Facebook page was released on Wednesday.

The song was inspired by the Maharajah, who was the last Sikh ruler of the kingdom of Punjab in northern India, and is buried in the graveyard of the village church.

Ranjit said, during the filming of the video in July: “After I came here in June I was very emotional and every small thing we saw during the visit touched me – that is why I wanted to make this song.

“On the way back to London after being here I was totally silent, having so many thoughts about how I could do more to get the word out about Duleep Singh’s legacy – I have words, I have music and I hope I can pass that onto millions of people in this way.”

The three-hour filming at the two locations saw the use of smoke machines and drones as well as artefacts from the collection of Sikh historian Peter Bance, such as an 1875 double barrel Purdey shotgun once owned by the Maharajah himself.

It is the 130th anniversary of the death of Maharajah Duleep Singh, who died in Paris following a stroke on October 22, 1893.