Punjabi cinema was led by emotions in 2022

Scurrying to release films held back amid the lockdown, 2022 was a mixed bag for Punjabi cinema. On one hand, the year saw a record number of big banner film releases bunched together, on the other, scripts evolved to accommodate emotional and women centric themes, shattering the notion of Punjabi industry being ruled by patriarchy and comedy.
“It’s been tough past two years for the Punjabi film industry because of the Covid pandemic. Around 100 films couldn’t see the light of the day because of the cinemas being partially or completely shut. But 2022 saw revival of the Punjabi industry,” says Gunbir Sidhu, producer. He adds, “Although box office numbers have been dismal compared to pre-COVID times, a few films did pull audience to cinemas. Punjabi film industry has evolved to be at par with international cinema. In 2023 few films will be dubbed in regional languages and released in other states too.”

Jagdeep Sidhu, director and writer of Punjabi films says, “2022 was overloaded because of films held back from 2020. Punjabi cinema definitely experimented this year with emotions and women as heroes, away from comedy. The learning from this year is that we need quality over quantity, a cinematic experience and films that go beyond ours homes to increase the graph of cinema, if we are to keep audiences coming back to cinemas.”

Filmmaker Pawan Gill is of the opinion that, "What is made in cinema, movies are a reflection of audience tastes,” he says, adding, “The movies for whose tickets sell more are usually youth and family entertainers so hence Punjabi films mostly are made on those genres. But there is a new trend of smaller films for more niche audiences and that is nice to see.”