Randeep Wadehra
Last fortnight Khabarsaar (Zee
Punjabi) debated Gursharan Singh’s contribution to the evolution of Punjab’s
socio-political thought processes. His plays espoused leftist ideology, which
is no more in vogue thanks to the Soviet Union’s disintegration, China’s
revisionism and the Indian communist parties’ inability to come to grips with
the changed economic and political realities. However, nobody can deny the fact
that its influence on capitalism has been profound and abiding. Concepts like corporate
social responsibility and egalitarianism etc have had a humanizing impact on
not only the profit-seeking behemoths but also the manner in which democratic governments
function in various parts of the world. People like Gursharan will be remembered
for helping in making this humane factor a constant in our society as well as general
governance.
The passing away of singer Jagjit
Singh was mourned by people from various parts of the country. Hailing from
Rajasthan’s Sriganganagar he was a Punjabi all the way. He will be remembered
for changing the grammar of ghazal singing. Not only did he replace traditional
instruments with guitar and dholak but also did away with many a classical
embellishment in order to make ghazal popular with the lay audience – and he
succeeded phenomenally. Actually, this set me thinking. Punjabis have been
immensely successful in Mumbai’s entertainment industry. But, their successes
there have failed to trigger off a revolution in Punjabi cinema and television.
Who will believe today that
Punjab was among the leaders in film production during the pre-partition days?
Lahore had Hari Ram Seth’s Punjab Film Company and AR Kardar’s United Players’
Corporation among the pioneers and frontrunners of Indian cinema. The dawn of
talkie era saw frenetic production of movies by several producers. KD Mehra’s
Punjabi films Sheila and Heer Sayal were a success,
inspiring other producers and directors to enter the field. Soon, Lahore became
the most important centre of Hindi film production in the country. But the
partition knocked Punjab off the pedestal. In spite of such memorable movies as
Madhi Da Deeva, Satlaj De Kande, Nanak Naam Jahaaj Hai etc Punjabi
cinema does not figure among the best in the country. Most of the stuff churned
out comprises poor Bollywood imitations or the hackneyed vendetta narrative. Since
the recently introduced NRI theme too is being flogged to death there is little
hope for Punjabi cinema’s recovery anytime soon.
There really is no systemic
process to recognize and nurture talent for the entertainment industry. The
so-called academies in the region are neither interested in nor capable of
doing the job. One has yet to hear of an actor, director or cinematographer
from these academies making any impact on the regional, let alone national,
entertainment scene. Most of the successful Punjabi actors, directors,
cinematographers and media persons have only their own talent and efforts to
fall back upon.
The Punjabi TV scene is disheartening
too. Most of the reality shows based on general knowledge, comedy or music are
products of unoriginal ideas; creativity is at its nadir. The likes of Sajda
don’t last long and the Great Masters has gradually lowered its
benchmark to bring in anybody ready to sing for the show. Even news based
productions, more often than not, fail to live up to expectations. Most of
these are poorly researched; the debates often remain substandard as most of
the participants are either ill-informed or politically biased. Sadly, even
those from the academia become mealy mouthed while discussing economic issues
facing the region for reasons best known to them. If our intellectuals refuse
to face up to a problem how would it be resolved?
Punjabi television and cinema
lack skills in content management and human resource development. Only committed
persons with vision can remove these deficiencies. Will the Punjabi
entertainment industry’s wait for Godot ever end?
Published in The Tribune dated
29 October 2011
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