I am being very honest when I say that before watching
it in theater and crying my eyes and heart out there along with my friends, I
had not read Amrita Pritam’s novel ‘Pinjar‘. There is nothing
to hide and anything to be ashamed of while accepting my lack of knowledge here.
I had definitely crammed the names of books written by her in my 9th and 10th
standard exams, but the popular culture around me did not quite emphasize the
need to read those books in detail. My senior secondary and college syllabus had
nothing to do with Punjabi. Hence I and many others like me were disinherited of
her timeless stories and thoughts.
Till now I have seen ‘Pinjar’ nearly 10 times. It is one of my all time favorite films and may I dare to say, one very powerful story showing the real suffering of women during the infamous partition. There have been films like Shaheed-e-Mohabbat and Gadar around and before Pinjar. But they did not tell wholly the pain of an abducted woman pushed into a state of helplessness and gradual religion change while learning to live with a man who she abhors. It must have happened like that in reality and not as shown in Gadar.
The words coming out from my keyboard may be caustic and many may not like it.
Where was the story of Pinjar lying before one Dr. Chandraparkash Dwivedi found the potential in it and chose two non-Punjabis, Urmila Matondkar and Manoj Bajpai to play the lead roles? Does it mean if they had not made this film, the story of ‘Pinjar’ would have died and erased from the memory of even Punjabis forever?
It was Urmila’s best performance till then and Bajpai portrayed the mind of a confused man ingeniously. Audience could not tell if he was a Bihari Babu or a long lost Punjabi Muslim. The film died at the box-office for various reasons not related to the content but lousy marketing. Whoever saw the film later on, from Punjab to Kanyakumari, fell in love with it and today it is ranked very high among other National Award winning honored stories. If it were made in Punjab, it may have done an above average business for sure, but only if it were made the same way as in Hindi.
Now we hear Rakesh Om Parkash Mehra choosing Milkha Singh as the subject of his next film. Vikramaditya Motwane is researching hard on the life of our assassinated singer, late Amar Singh Chamkila.
In our regional cinema where we hear the cries of want of a new story and subject, why are people related to the industry ignoring the local literature and people of great importance? Yes, such films need more hard work and training on the part of actors and research by the directors. To play the role of Milkha Singh, one needs a rigorous work-out and athletic training to look compelling while learning a demeanor kindred to his personality. To do a Chamkila, the lead actor has to know his mannerisms and do some serious work on them. It is not the same as dancing around the heroine in front of a still camera or crying in front of the filmy parents for love marriage.
The hard work, if it were put by people of Punjabi origin, would have added respect to our cinema in front of the world. But that unfortunately is not the case. The zeal to make some quick bucks while taking refuge in the comfort zone of singing and dancing may not gain more support in times to come.
I do not know how many classic novels and stories are lying unused by Punjabi cinema just because they demand more conditioning by the actors to make them convincing and appeal to the audience. And add to these the real life histories of many esteemed or infamous people. If Mumbai people can think of making a film on Milkha Singh, why could Punjab not do so by putting 2-3 crore into it? Honestly, today Mehra could not find an actor of Punjabi descent who could slip into his shoes with ease. Had this film been made few years earlier, Om Puri would have been the first and last choice.
These novels, biopics, short stories, all can be adapted on screen in small budgets, but true, they will not work with pretty but phlegmatic heroines and cosmetically dashing heroes. They demand expressive and soulful human beings. These stories leave little scope for lavish sets or family celebrations.
A lot of bellowing has been going on for support to Punjabi Cinema by film vaalas, but are they really supporting Punjabi literature and the life stories of those greats who made Punjab truly international? If the trends are to be followed, non-Punjabis have more interest in stories of Punjab today than Punjabis themselves.
As for being old, nothing gets old in art. Literature and stories are never rotten. After all, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was elaborated from a short story published in 1922. And Vishal Bharadwaj adapted Shakespeare’s Othello written somewhere around 1602-1603 AD into 2006′s Omkara. The same about Dev D.
Apologies to all of you by my acrid keyboard….:)
Till now I have seen ‘Pinjar’ nearly 10 times. It is one of my all time favorite films and may I dare to say, one very powerful story showing the real suffering of women during the infamous partition. There have been films like Shaheed-e-Mohabbat and Gadar around and before Pinjar. But they did not tell wholly the pain of an abducted woman pushed into a state of helplessness and gradual religion change while learning to live with a man who she abhors. It must have happened like that in reality and not as shown in Gadar.
The words coming out from my keyboard may be caustic and many may not like it.
Where was the story of Pinjar lying before one Dr. Chandraparkash Dwivedi found the potential in it and chose two non-Punjabis, Urmila Matondkar and Manoj Bajpai to play the lead roles? Does it mean if they had not made this film, the story of ‘Pinjar’ would have died and erased from the memory of even Punjabis forever?
It was Urmila’s best performance till then and Bajpai portrayed the mind of a confused man ingeniously. Audience could not tell if he was a Bihari Babu or a long lost Punjabi Muslim. The film died at the box-office for various reasons not related to the content but lousy marketing. Whoever saw the film later on, from Punjab to Kanyakumari, fell in love with it and today it is ranked very high among other National Award winning honored stories. If it were made in Punjab, it may have done an above average business for sure, but only if it were made the same way as in Hindi.
Now we hear Rakesh Om Parkash Mehra choosing Milkha Singh as the subject of his next film. Vikramaditya Motwane is researching hard on the life of our assassinated singer, late Amar Singh Chamkila.
In our regional cinema where we hear the cries of want of a new story and subject, why are people related to the industry ignoring the local literature and people of great importance? Yes, such films need more hard work and training on the part of actors and research by the directors. To play the role of Milkha Singh, one needs a rigorous work-out and athletic training to look compelling while learning a demeanor kindred to his personality. To do a Chamkila, the lead actor has to know his mannerisms and do some serious work on them. It is not the same as dancing around the heroine in front of a still camera or crying in front of the filmy parents for love marriage.
The hard work, if it were put by people of Punjabi origin, would have added respect to our cinema in front of the world. But that unfortunately is not the case. The zeal to make some quick bucks while taking refuge in the comfort zone of singing and dancing may not gain more support in times to come.
I do not know how many classic novels and stories are lying unused by Punjabi cinema just because they demand more conditioning by the actors to make them convincing and appeal to the audience. And add to these the real life histories of many esteemed or infamous people. If Mumbai people can think of making a film on Milkha Singh, why could Punjab not do so by putting 2-3 crore into it? Honestly, today Mehra could not find an actor of Punjabi descent who could slip into his shoes with ease. Had this film been made few years earlier, Om Puri would have been the first and last choice.
These novels, biopics, short stories, all can be adapted on screen in small budgets, but true, they will not work with pretty but phlegmatic heroines and cosmetically dashing heroes. They demand expressive and soulful human beings. These stories leave little scope for lavish sets or family celebrations.
A lot of bellowing has been going on for support to Punjabi Cinema by film vaalas, but are they really supporting Punjabi literature and the life stories of those greats who made Punjab truly international? If the trends are to be followed, non-Punjabis have more interest in stories of Punjab today than Punjabis themselves.
As for being old, nothing gets old in art. Literature and stories are never rotten. After all, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was elaborated from a short story published in 1922. And Vishal Bharadwaj adapted Shakespeare’s Othello written somewhere around 1602-1603 AD into 2006′s Omkara. The same about Dev D.
Apologies to all of you by my acrid keyboard….:)
0 comments:
Post a Comment