Punjabi Antenna
Comedy for couch potatoes
Randeep Wadehra

Upasna Singh and Gurpreet Ghuggi in Meri Vohti Da Viah

With the onset of festive season, release of feature films, especially in the DVD format, is welcomed by the couch potato of Punjabi variety. And if it is a comedy nothing like it. This month a rib-tickler, Meri Vohti Da Viah, is gonna hit the video circuit. It has Upasna Singh, Vivek Shauq, Gurpreet Ghuggi and Sameep Kang in stellar roles. The story revolves around a hypochondriac’s secretive efforts to get his wife married off as he is convinced that his days are numbered. And the wife, bemused by his stealthy ways, suspects him of infidelity. Thus a laugh bomb detonates in your drawing rooms.

One was pleasantly surprised to see the patriotic video-song Daykay khoon shaheedan chaaday rang tirange nu on the telly. The lyrics and the music transported one to the 1960s when patriotic fervour was rather prominent in Hindi and regional songs. After the crossover excesses, Punjabi music video industry is showing signs of returning to sanity. Lilting melodies are making a comeback, albeit hesitantly. For example, the songs Ikk alharh kudi dee akhiyaan and Sanu taa rehnda tere pyaar da saroor have good imagery and are pleasant to the ear. And, there also appear to be attempts at reviving folk-style in its pristine form. With a perceptible fall in the decibel levels, one looks forward to the trend of good music gaining strength. But certain tendencies need to be checked. Among the latest offerings, some songs have been composed to the tune of the traditional Mirza and Heer, thus jarring one’s sensibilities. Good, original lyrics ought to be wrapped in good original music for the sake of good taste as well as for the health of our creativity. After all one does not mix pulao with sarson da saag.

It seems the news channel, Punjab Today, believes that there are separate and exclusive audiences for its Hindi and Punjabi newscasts.

In its Punjabi bulletins only Punjab-centric reports are telecast, while there are separate Hindi bulletins for Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Such region-based airtight compartmentalisation of news is inadvisable. Surely, people would like to know of the happenings in their neighbouring states. Unless the channel is bent upon pleasing the local politico-bureaucratic elites by reporting even their most inane acts and utterances. And, pray, why so much focus on inaugurations of shopping arcades and other set-ups? A case of news-worthiness redefined, perhaps.