All the raula-rappa over the Oscars, which were awarded last Sunday, got me thinking about the possibility of a Punjabi movie winning this accolade. Every year, since 1957, India has been sending its best film of the year to the Oscars, hoping that it gets nominated and then wins the Best Foreign Film Award. Only three films have made it to nominee status- Mother India, Salaam Bombay and Lagaan and none of them managed to win. Getting nominated is no small accomplishment and hopefully one of these days an Indian film will win too. But the probability of that Indian film being in Punjabi is very less. If you look at the list of films that have been entered by India, you will see films in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Bengali, Malyalam, Telugu and Urdu but not even one Punjabi language entry. Over the years there have been some really good Punjabi movies, some of the ones that I remember are Chann Pardesi, Batwara, Ucha Dar Babey Nanak Da, Laung da Lishkara, Sarpanch, Visakhi, Jee Aayan Nu, Mahaul Theek Hai, Shaheed-e -Mohabbat, Des Hoyea Pardes. This is not a complete list and there are other Punjabi movies too that are good but there are not a lot of them and certainly only a few of them have made it to the top among Indian movies, leave alone at an international level.Its not that Punjab lacks talent, in fact, a lot of the the big name actors, directors and producers in Bollywood can trace their roots back to Punjab. But somehow this connection has not borne out well for the Punjabi movie industry. A majority of the movies made in Punjabi are amateurish attempts at recreating Hindi films. They don't have a good storyline, acting and humor are both exaggerated and there is an overall lack of substance in the movie. No doubt, recently, the visual and cinematographic quality of Punjabi movies has improved dramatically but these are just superficial changes. The characters lack depth and consistency and beyond looking good, driving expensive cars, having palatial homes/farmhouses and going abroad they don't have to put in much effort for the role. There are so many great and powerful stories and characters that define Punjab but somehow our filmmakers are afraid to tackle these subjects. Preferring, instead, to stick to run of the mill love stories, family dramas or NRIs returning to Punjab themes. I am not saying that these aspects of Punjabi culture should be ignored-these should be portrayed too but there is more to Punjab and Punjabis than just this. We have a rich heritage, a long history full of figures who can be used to tell awesome stories, we have a dynamic culture that is facing new challenges everyday and we have people who are overcoming these challenges. All of these stories should be told and we have the talent, the resources and the expertise to do this, all we need is a vision.
PS 1: Jollywood is our term for the Punjabi movie industry (partly because of Jalandhar DD and as a nod to the famous jolly nature of Punjabis)
PS 2: Oscar winning director Kathryn Bigelow of " The Hurt Locker" fame is shooting for her next movie in Chandigarh, hope this helps the Punjabi movie industry in some way.
Hollywood crew comes calling
Oscar-winning director in city to shoot film on Osama bin LadenChandigarh, February 29
There is excitement among students of Punjab Engineering College (PEC) as Oscar-winner and legendary Hollywood director Kathryn Bigelow, who has directed “The Hurt Locker”, is shooting a film on Osama bin Laden on the campus.A Hollywood film on the life of Osama bin Laden being shot in the Sector 15 market, Chandigarh, on Wednesday. Tribune photo: Manoj Mahajan
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120301/cth1.htm#5
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_submissions_for_the_Academy_Award_for_Best_Foreign_Language_Film
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Punjab
http://www.tribuneindia.com
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