Punjabi antenna
New touch to old theme
Randeep Wadehra

Jashan Manaiye Saare has been shot in Amritsar and Himachal. The film has Lakhwinder Wadali and Harpreet in the lead roles

It is not just any movie. It is a mission to save the girl child”, says director Mukesh Gautam, who is emphatic as he elaborates: “Realising how propaganda blitz often puts viewers off even the most socially relevant issues, we have decided not to get preachy. Let the message sink in while people watch this entertainer Jashan Manaiye Saare.” Earnestness and confidence ooze out of his words. Although Hindi television is awash with soaps featuring girl child-related themes, and the Punjab Government, too, has initiated a movement against female foeticide, a commercial movie tackling such an ‘unglamorous’ subject is a first for Punjabi, if not Indian, cinema.

Gautam assures us that the theme has been handled with sensitivity, keeping cinematic aesthetics in view. Even as movie buffs are expected to get full entertainment value for their money, they would be returning home with something to chew over. To seamlessly weave a powerful anti-female-foeticide statement into the framework of commercial entertainer requires a deft touch—something that Mukesh Gautam possesses in ample measure. The film has been shot in Amritsar and Himachal Pradesh. The excellent camerawork promises a visual treat too. The cast has Lakhwinder Wadali and Harpreet in the lead, while the thespians Gugu Gill, Nirmal Rishi and others like Rana Ranbir, Sudesh Lehri etc are in interesting supporting roles.

There was a time when parallel cinema used to enrich the Bollywood corpus with its intellectual and socially relevant content. Will Mukesh Gautam’s Jashan… do the same to today’s Punjabi cinema? Well, Punjabi cinema is certainly moving a notch higher—this movie is proof enough.

Talking of the regional cinema one cannot but cast a speculative eye on its track record on the small screen. There was a time when private television channels used to telecast Punjabi movies at least once a week if not more frequently. Today only Doordarshan, Jalandhar, does so, but the fare is so stale that it reeks and has become unappetising. Flicks from 1980s and even earlier decades—with faded prints—are telecast as poor substitutes for something better. Other channels are not doing even that. Don’t they have resources for buying latest, or at least fairly recent, Punjabi flicks like the crowd pulling Jee Aayan Nu, Mehndi Wale Hath and so many others?

Balwinder, a producer with Zee Punjabi, points out that the channel’s subsidiaries in the US and UK regularly telecast Punjabi movies because they find it lucrative, thanks to the Punjabi diaspora. In India, owing to the overwhelming popularity of Bollywood productions, even Punjabis keep away from movies made in their mother tongue. Hence, no sponsors and no advertising revenue. It is sheer economics, asserts Balwinder.

That might well be true but surely channels like Zee and PTC have enough resources to come up with quality Punjabi productions. Hindi movies draw on talent from various parts of the country as well as abroad, whereas Punjabi producers are unwilling to invest even on local talent. So, if the two channels decide to underwrite quality ventures then, after a reasonable gestation period, there is no reason why the audiences cannot be won back. Please remember, shoddy production values and poor storylines have been responsible for alienating up-market viewers from Punjabi movies. The only way to win back their patronage is to offer fresh plots produced imaginatively. Mere exotic locations will not do.

Today’s Punjabi television and cinema are akin to a vast canvas waiting to be painted in rainbow colours which can be achieved, given the right imagination and skills. The pot at the end of such a rainbow will definitely be full of gold.

Any takers?

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