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Stan S;It is stylized because unfortunately Indian martial arts is a dead art. However, there must be some elements of the "real" thing in Gatka and Shastar Vidya routines. While you really can not compare them to an actual fight (for instance, it is clear from all available videos that opponents goal is to strike the others shield rather than inflict bodily harm), I would imagine that the relationship between Gatka and a real duel is not unlike that between Olympic fencing and the renaissance fencing. I am not putting down the sport, nor am I comparing it to a dance routine (I myself am a fencer with almost a decade of experience under my belt). I am just trying to emphasize the point of Olympic fencing being very different from the duels held amongst Western aristocracy of a few centuries years ago, which in turn would be quite different from mass melees on the battle fields of the time.
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When I met Nidar Singh earlier on this year, his explanation of technique was definitely Martial, and it was interesting comparing his sabre technique to British cavalry of the early 19th Century. Also his explanation of the way they use kukri was all about killing, and again interesting to compare his with ours.
Certainly at the battle of Aliwal and Sobraon the Sikhs performed well although their cavalry was easily dealt with by the cavalry under Sir Harry Smith, and the Sikhs reputation was excellent in the Indian Mutiny (by then I would suspect some British influence), so when did Sikh Martial arts stop being taught in a traditional way?