Rooted to the soil

Bringing the rich literary heritage into films is what theatre artiste and filmmaker Rupinder Korpal aspires for. His debut short film Mohabbat Di Mitti is based on Ram Saroop Ankhi’s book. The 21-minute film has been doing the rounds at festivals, has witnessed 35 official selections and won 20 awards so far! An elated Korpal says, “I considered many stories but on suggestion of our lead actor Sukhpal, we zeroed down on Mohabbat Di Mitti for it made the best possible bet for visual drama.”

It’s a slow film that needs patience. Theatre-goers might click with the tenor but it’s not for everybody. We have done some screenings and plan to hold a few for the discerning audience.

Rupinder Korpal

A Masters in Theatre and Television from Punjabi University, Patiala, Korpal has cast his theatre fellows Sukhpal Bajwa and Sandeep Kaur in the lead roles. The high of this project for them was a clay statue that was made by an artiste named Janak. “It’s a love story between a well-to-do girl and a not-so-well-to-do boy. We needed a life-size statue of the female lead of our story and Janak delivered in one day.”

The film has won multiple honours at Indie Shorts Film Festival, One Leaf International Film Festival, Bioscope Cine International Film Festival, Ma Boli International Punjabi Film Mela, among others. Festival circuit wasn’t a plan, but Korpal aims at a YouTube release. When some OTT players expressed interest in his film, he thought of taking it to festivals, a move that paid off. He has no plans to release it for the masses though. “It’s a slow film that needs patience. Theatre-goers might click with the tenor of our film, but it’s not for everybody. We have done some screenings and plan to hold a few for the discerning audience,” he says. Korpal clears that he is not making films for money. “I want to bring the treasure of our literature on to the screen and take it to non-readers.” For finances, he does photography, cinematography and shoots music videos.

Already in pre-production of his next venture, he says, “It’s based on Gurbachan Singh Bhullar’s story Tori Di Vel.” It deals with young girl married to a much older man. “The pre-production of our film is complete and I can’t wait to take to take it to the floors,” says the writer-director, who intends to adapt the story to suit contemporary times.