Above: Gurvinder Singh (right) with actor Mal Singh.
Film/Stage
Punjab's Horse Whisperer: Gurvinder Singh's Punjabi Film Bags "Best Director" Award
by SARIKA SHARMA
It was September 2007.
A young Film and Television Institute of India ("FTII") graduate was in Chandigarh, Punjab, and he was still an unknown figure in Punjabi cinema.
“Will you ever make a Punjabi film,” we tossed a question at him.
Sitting on the staircase leading to a city artist’s house, he was plunged in thoughts. He wasn’t looking us in the eye, as if there was a film rolling in front of his eyes, in his heart, in his mind.
“I will. But not like the ones made in Punjab.”
The conversation ended there.
Nobody knew that the young man one day will rewrite the script of Punjabi cinema.
Today, as he is bestowed with the National Award for Best Director for his debut film "Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan", we know what he was talking about.
Never mind that he is still unknown.
Gurvinder Singh was named the best director for his film at India's 59th National Awards announced in New Delhi on Wednesday, March 7, 2012.
Gurvinder wouldn’t lie that he wasn’t expecting a National Award.
“ ... only for the Best Punjabi Film,” he says.
The film got that too, but it also brought him the Best Director award and his cinematographer Satya Rai Nagpaul, Gurvinder’s junior from FTII, Pune, the Best Cinematography Award.
We ask him to spare us the clichés, but would he dedicate the award to someone?
“Of course ... to my teacher late Mani Kaul, who was also the film’s creative director,” he says.
Gurvinder says the film is a continuation of his legacy and his genre of cinema.
The film is an important landmark in Punjabi cinema.
While films like Chann Pardesi (1980), Marhi Da Deeva (1989), and of late, Waris Shah - Ishq Daa Waaris (2006) did win the National Award for Best Punjabi Film, this is for the first time a Punjabi film has stood out on the national platform, and that too on three fronts.
Gurvinder hopes the film makes people take Punjabi cinema more seriously, and that there is some kind of “re-evaluation” of the cinema, the kind of media content flowing out of Punjab.
He feels that though the films and songs have kept still, visual arts in Punjab have gone down. “Be it miniature art, pottery, or even Phulkari. We had a rich textile tradition in the state, you know,” he says. He wishes there is “some kind of renaissance … of doing something new”.
And will the film, based on Gurdial Singh’s Punjabi novel of the same name, bring recognition to Punjabi literature too?
“I hope it does. I hope people read the novel. And then people will want to read more of Gurdial Singh and then, maybe, they will pick other Punjabi writers,” he says. “Isn’t that how it happens?” he asks.
Cinema, Gurvinder says, is a cult medium, a documentation of our times.
“I know of Iran through Iranian cinema and not through what the newspapers tell me. I know Japan through Japanese cinema and Russia through Russian cinema,” he says.
And cinema’s role goes much beyond entertainment. “It is cultural, social and political history,” he says.
Gurvinder’s next film is also in Punjabi, set against the backdrop of the troubled times brought about by the Indian state's human rights violations in Punjab in the 1980s, and the militancy resulting from it. He says it is a film about fear and mistrust.
[Courtesy: Daily Post. Edited for sikhchic.com]
March 8, 2012
Conversation about this article
1: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), March 08, 2012, 1:38 PM.
It's great that he is trying to bring Punjabi cinema into the spotlight by making films which are not in line with traditional Punjabi film plots. One only has to look to South India to see that it is very possible to compete with the juggernaut of the Bollywood film. Speaking of Bollywood films and Punjab, I'm sure many would be surprised to know that the modern Hindi film cinema has its roots in Punjab. Partition forced the directors, actors, screenwriters, etc, to flee to Mumbai and set up camp there. That is why Bollywood even today is dominated by Punjabi origin actors and one can spot Punjabi dominated cast and crew by looking at the credits of post partition films. Hopefully more Punjabi film makers will move away from the "guy-comes-from Canada, finds-problem-in-his-village, reunites-with-his-childhood-love and saves-the-family-from-a-crisis" plot.
2: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), March 08, 2012, 3:19 PM.
Perhaps Punjabi film makers can also pause and make films/documentaries about Punjab having the world's first civilization, the place where Alexander the Great was stopped in his tracks, the most invaded land in history ...
3: Sangat Singh (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), March 08, 2012, 5:45 PM.
Once in a while a person like Mani appears on the constellation. Loss of Mani Kaul for Gurvinder must have been devastating. He was his friend and mentor and held in a godlike awe. Mani had inspired a number of outstanding film directors who created a new genre of film. He didn't live to see the release of "Anhey Ghorrey da Daan" that touched the outer fringes of film making, something that he had co-produced. He lives through the legacy of art films he has left behind. Welcome Gurvinder ji - the sky is the limit. We await more of your wonderful creations.
4: Roop Dhillon (Reigate, United Kingdom), March 08, 2012, 8:17 PM.
If you want to see the trailers, click below. Possibly the best Punjabi film since Khamosh Pani, another one based on a novel. http://emissions.tumblr.com/post/12304759126/an-extraordinary-trailer-for-anhey-ghorhey-da-daan http://vimeo.com/28780748 http://vimeo.com/28780745
5: R. Bedi (New Delhi, India), March 09, 2012, 1:52 AM.
I fully agree with Sunny Grewal ji. And thank you, Roop Dhillon ji.
6: Amarjit Singh Chandan (London, United Kingdom), March 09, 2012, 7:38 AM.
I'd like to share the message from Nadir Ali, a distinguished Punjabi writer and activist, about Gurvinder's achievements. Nadir Ali was present at the screenings of the film in Lahore in December last year when Gurvinder and I went there. Introducing the film to the audience, Colonel (Retd.) Ali spoke highly of it. Hope the readers will be able make sense of the Punjabi in Roman script: Wah-wah rung vikhaya ee Guru dia Vindra!/ Gungiaan da bol sunaya ee, dharti kann rukh kay,/ Keha Desh Punjab vikhaya ee, saanu annehaaN nu/ Janjh tay chup hay, barha ee dukh hay,/ Keha raad machaya ee, dooti tup khalotay,/ ... / Wah, Gurdial dia Shoh Bala!/ Rahs rungi, tuN novel rungia,/ Wah Holi jashan manaya ee kala rung rung kay,/ Kehnday ik hazaar varha ronda ay phul Nargis da,/ TaaN vekhan aali akh khuldi ay usdi!/ Jeunda raheN, tanuN lakh vadhaiyaN,/ Fatah milay har maidan tainu Gurvinder Singha!
7: Amrit (Brisbane, Australia), March 11, 2012, 8:49 PM.
Anyone know where we can watch this film or purchase it?
8: Darina Kaur (Petaling Jaya, Malaysia), March 15, 2012, 1:40 AM.
Where can I watch this film?
9: Aish (Pakistan, Islamabad), June 27, 2013, 8:45 AM.
This site is relay beneficial, especially since it gives a clear picture of Indian history.