No Punjabi film, but Haryanvi documentary at IFFI’s Indian Panorama

Anindita.Acharya@timesgroup.com

Chandigarh: Punjabi films are again missing from the 48th International Film Festival of India’s prestigious Indian Panorama section.

There is no Punjabi film in the final selection of 26 feature and 16 non-feature films being screened in Goa. One Haryanvi non-feature film, titled ‘Amma Meri’, directed by Tarun Jain, is the only entry from the region.

Last year too, Punjabi films failed to make the cut at IFFI, but two Haryanvi films — director Sonia Saharan’s ‘Daayra’ and director Billu Paul’s ‘Samann’— were screened in the non-feature section of Indian Panorama.

In fact, the last Punjabi feature and non-feature films screened in Indian Panorama were in 2012 and 2014, respectively.

‘Candles in the Wind’, a bilingual non-feature film (Punjabi and English), directed by Kavita Bahl and Nandan Saxena and about farmer suicides in Punjab was screened in 2014.

Director Gurvinder Singh, whose ‘Chauthi Koot’ based on the 1980s Sikh separatist movement was the first Punjabi film to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015, is irked with the kind of films this part of the country is churning out. His film, ‘Anhe Ghore Da Daan’ was screened at IFFI and won the Golden Peacock award for best film in 2012.

“Punjabi films are a joke for the rest of the country. Who watches these films other than people in Punjab or Punjabi NRIs? Not even sensible and well-educated Punjabis living outside Punjab watch them. So how do you expect anybody to take them seriously? When the target audience of the Punjabi producer and director is only the native Punjabi, whether residing in Punjab or overseas, I don't think they even expect their films to be shown at festivals. There is no contender, so why complain,” he told TOI.

Filmmaker Navtej Singh Sandhu, whose short film ‘Gawachi Pagg’ was screened at Cannes this year, echoed his sentiment. “There is a severe lack of awareness among filmmakers and producers in Punjab when it comes to sending films to various national and international film festivals. Only a handful of filmmakers are trying to do meaningful cinema,” Sandhu told TOI.

Sandhu’s earlier two Punjabi short films — Nooran and Khamdi Deorri — were screened in the short films section at Cannes in 2014 and 2015, respectively. According to Sandhu, participating in a film festival exposes a director to world cinema. “Most of the Punjabi filmmakers don’t even know that you can meet marketers from all over the world at these festivals and sell the film,” he said.

Sandhu also said vulgarity in Punjabi songs is the root cause of problems when asked why alternate cinema was not blossoming in this region. “Most of the Punjabi songs promote and glamorise gang wars, liquor consumption, sex, and violence. How can you expect the youth of Punjab to watch anything sensible if they are constantly fed this kind of entertainment,” he questioned.

Gurvinder said he hopes people will get tired of such forms of entertainment. “Only crudity sells and that’s what gets made. You don’t expect rest of the world to showcase it in the name of cinema.”

Punjabi actor and line producer Darshan Aulakh, who is shooting for a biopic on ex-Indian hockey captain Sandeep Singh, alongside Diljit Dosanjh and Taapsee Pannu, said lack of established producers is one of the main reasons why Punjabi filmmakers are not getting their due in various film festivals. “There are only 3-4 producers who are constantly churning out Punjabi films. The other producers come here for a brief moment, make films and fly away. A director needs proper monetary support to send films to festivals. Who will support the directors here?” asked Aulakh.