Punjabi singer and actor Ranjit Bawa films Maharajah Duleep Singh-inspired music video at Elveden Church

Filming took place at a Suffolk church last week for a music video from a world-famous singer with more than 10 million followers on social media.

On Tuesday, Punjabi singer and actor, Ranjit Bawa, was seen at St Andrew's and St Patrick's Church in London Road, Elveden, near Thetford, with a film crew and extras for his upcoming yet-to-be named track.

The song came after Ranjit came to the church last month to pay his respects to Maharajah Duleep Singh, the last Sikh ruler of the kingdom of Punjab in northern India, who is buried in the church’s graveyard.

Ranjit said: “After I came here last time 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.”

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

The last Sikh ruler of the Punjab arrived in England after the British took his kingdom in the 1840s and, after buying Elveden Estate, he and his family lived in the area for the next century.

The three-hour shooting of the music video included using drones and smoke machines, as well as filming inside the church, its graveyard and in the site’s cloisters.

Ranjit was also able to use artefacts such as an 1875 double barrel handmade Purdey shotgun once owned by the Maharajah from the collection of Sikh historian Peter Bance during the filming.