The lucrative NRI market for Hindi cinema has led to an upsurge
of the Punjabi family drama on screen, writes
Nirupama Dutt
Punjabis
have long dominated Bollywood what with scores of Kapoors, Chopras,
Anands, Deols, Mehras, Sagars, Sahnis, Roshans and many more having a
firm hold on Mumbaia films for long years. However, there were
just a film or two in many decades that carried a flavour of Punjabi
life and culture. Of course, some themes were perennial favourites
like the love legends of Heer-Ranjha or Sohni-Mahiwal
and the inspiring saga of patriot Bhagat Singh were made over and
again. |
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Apart from these, there was very little else to give a feel of
the land that these scores of filmwalas came from. Now, there is an
upsurge of the Punjabi family drama and other themes close to the
soil. Veer Zaara is the latest to capture the soul and spirit
of Punjab on both sides of the border. Not just Mumbai cinema, the
Punjabi family drama courtesy Gurinder Chadda has become a
sought-after theme even in British cinema. And the lady has been
honoured for setting this trend in the British House of Commons. Well
she has made a heady cocktail of Austen and Amritsar and it is balle
balle all the way.
If one delves into
the past then very few films reflected the Punjabi way of life. One
old black-and-white movie that did give a feel of life in the
Punjabi-speaking hilly areas of Punjab, before the 1966 reorganisation
of states when the Kangra valley went to Himachal, was Bambai ka
Babu. It was a Dev Anand thriller that began in a smoky gambling
den in Mumbai and moved to a hilly village in the north. The film had
some memorable musical numbers like Chal ri sajani ab kya soche
and Diwana mastana hua dil set to the magical music of
S.D. Burman. Later, B.R. Chopra’s Waqt of the Sixties took up
the story of a Punjabi trader, Lala Kedar Nath. But for the initial
few scenes capturing the lost lifestyle of Quetta in the North West
Frontier Province, the film soon moved to the very cosmopolitan Delhi
and Mumbai, exploring the usual lost-and-found formula that Hindi
cinema delights in.
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A still from Pinjar
A scene from Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh
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One always wondered
why no Punjabi had gone out to make a film reflecting the land and its
people they way they were. I remember putting this question to many
and always getting evasive replies. I recall Dev Anand telling me,
"You see we belong not just to Punjab, we belong to the whole
country." Gulzar, the Bimal Roy assistant so smitten by Bengali
culture, said, "I can read Bangla and not Punjabi so my films are
more often based on Bangla stories." Of course, he went on to
make Maachis many years later but that even with Chappa
chappa charkha chale was more a film on the theme of terrorism and
Punjab was incidental. Good old Dara Singh gave an interesting reply
to this query in the course of an interview many years ago. He said,
"You see Hindi films are not based on reality. These are
fantasies catering to many areas so they must have a bit of Rajasthan
and a bit of Kashmir and so on." However, the reason for this is
the inferiority complex that Punjabis suffer from when faced with
lingual areas that have more developed traditions of art and
literature. Probably, this kept them away kept them away from touching
the homegrown.
The tide changed in
the mid-1990s when Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol danced their way into the
hearts of the audiences in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayeinge(DDLJ).
This blockbuster released in 1995 has made history by showing for
eight long years in the same cinema hall in Mumbai. With Kajol playing
Simran, the story moves from London to a Punjabi village haveli with
hordes of relatives. The success of this film inspired similar back
home in the big house in the village experiments like Dhai Akshar
Prem Ke but that film did not do well. However, the big house of
the landlord, the nearly extinct tribe of salwar-kameez-clad Beejis
(grannies) and turbaned kith and kin have come to stay in the films.
The multi-starrer Kabhie Khushi Kabhi Gham (K3G) had both naani
and daadi of the theth Punjabi variety portrayed by
Achla Sachdev and Sushma Seth. In fact earlier, but for the historical
and religious films, Sikhs were often crudely caricatured. The Shammi
Kapoor and Sharmila Tagore starring film An Evening in Paris
had a caricatured portrayal of a Sikh done by Rajendra Nath. Following
protests, certain scenes had to be taken off the film.
After the grand
success of DDLJ, it was British filmmaker of Indian origin who
portrayed the Punjabi family drama with aplomb in Bend It Like Beckham.
This NRI family story gave us a very endearing portrayal of the
turbaned father by Anupam Kher. More recently, it was a re-mix of very
Victorian Jane Austin with Amritsar in Bride and Prejudice. The
essential ingredients for the Punjabi family drama are kinship, love,
and hurdles. Of course, all this has to be punctuated liberally with
the steps of the Bhangra with the forefingers raised up to a Balle
Balle! Chadda also portrays the mood of the Indian origin girl
who makes it in life. She does so by catching the White man for lover
or groom. At one time that was the achievement factor for the men in
life but on screen they would give up the bad Western woman for the
good desi bride.
Could the phenomenon
of Punjabi pop have contributed in re-shaping the destiny of the
Punjabis on screen and having the whole film revolve around them?
Perhaps not so. For Hindi films made liberal use of Bhangra and
the tappa, but that would just begin and end with the
picturisation of the song. In the 1950s, Vyjyanthimala and Dilip Kumar
sang Udhein jab jab zulfein teri the Punjabi way clad in tehmats
but switched to central Indian attire soon after. Similarly, Raj
Kapoor had the famous song with Manohar Deepak doing bhangra in
Jagate Raho but that was all that was of Punjab there.
Subsequently, many films had songs inspired by Punjabi folk. The song
over and Punjab is forgotten.
More recently, Punjab
returned in full force in Partition films like Ghadar and Pinjar,
the latter based on a novel by Amrita Pritam. Before Pinjar too
a number of films were based on literature of the soil. These include Pavitar
Paapi, based on Nanak Singh’s novel, Uski Roti, inspired
by a short story of Mohan Rakesh and Ek Chaddar Maili Si, based
on a classic novella by Rajinder Singh Bedi. In fact Bedi, a talented
filmmaker had wanted to make this film himself, way back in the
Sixties with Geeta Bali and Dharmendra in the lead. But the project
was shelved with Geeta’s sudden death. Two decades later Sukhwant
Dhada made the film with Hema Malini and Rishi Kapoor. The film fell
short of promise. Interestingly, even when the scenario has been
Punjabi very rarely has a Punjabi actress played the lead. The old
film Bambai ka Babu had Bengal’s Suchitra Sen in the lead,
Maharashtrian Tanuja in Pavitar Paapi, Tabu of Hyderabadi fame
in Maachis, and Rano of Bedi’s classic was the dream girl
from down South. Even Chadda picked the Manglorian Aishwareya for Bride
and Prejudice and dulhaniya of DDLJ was Kajol. This
even when there are more Punjabi lasses around than in the old times.
Not just the big
screen, even the small screen is relishing in putting together the
Punjabi act. While Des Mein Nikla Hoga Chand is a desi
saga between London and Chandigarh, death and rebirth with the current
heroine actually named Heer, even Saas bhi`85 sent Tulsi on an
amnesia trip to be found in a silken salwar-kameez, jutti and parandas
in Chandigarh.
Not just that, the Gujju
ladies in this serial have even learnt to do Karva Chauth the
Punjabi way. Our beebi rani Jassi has set unparalleled records
and our lovely Juhi is so enchanting uttering the ever so familiar ‘Mummyji’
just as we do it back home in Sector 23, Chandigarh. The distinct
flavour of the culture or as some would say agri(culture) is catching
up. The trend is welcome even if the credit for it must go to the
dollars and pounds earned in Toronto or Birmingham. Well no apologies
please, we are as Punjabi as can be. |
