Film/Stage
Punjabi Is The New Flavour
AAKANKSHA NAVAL-SHETYE
While Hinglish was the flavour in majority of the films that were churned out last year, this year around, the lingo seems to be making way for Punjabi.
And it's not just a smattering of words thrown in or that one odd song with Punjabi lyrics added for effect. Instead, we are talking about the Punjabi mixed-in language being the tone throughout.
Last week's release, Bittoo Boss, had the lead hero, Pulkit Samrat, launch into a lingo that weighed heavily towards Punjabi.
Similarly, the recent Shoojit Sircar film, Vicky Donor, too had the lead actor Ayushmann Khurrana mouth off dialogues rich in Punjabi.
The Genelia-Riteish Deshmukh starrer, Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya, not only had a Punjabi title, but Riteish's language bordered on Punjabi too. Even the forthcoming films including Kunal Kohli's Teri Meri Kahaani, Yash Chopra's Ishaqzaade, Ajay Devgn's Son of Sardar, Akshay Kumar's Joker, Kunal Kapoor starrer Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana, are all films heavily textured in the Punjabi culture.
"Punjabi is equal to 'fun-jabi' on the big screen," say filmmakers and trade analysts.
"Most of these stories are set in the North, more so in Punjab, so the language being adapted is a natural. What also works in its favour is that both the Punjabi culture and language have a universal appeal. So, right from the masses to classes, to the audience in the diaspora, everyone can understand the language, as it's quite close to Hindi and yet lends itself to almost becoming a character on its own," says trade analyst Komal Nahta.
For director Shoojit, the tapping into Punjabi culture came easy.
"I have lived in Delhi, so the culture is deeply ingrained in me even though I'm a Bong (Bengali) and it becomes easier to translate that essence on screen," he says.
Director Mandeep Kumar agrees.
"There's a lot that we draw from our own experiences, so like me, directors who are well-versed with the culture will naturally gravitate towards tapping into culutres that they are more aware of," says the director of Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya.
An industry insider points out that a majority of the filmmakers at present come from a Punjabi background, so naturally they understand it better.
"Also the culture is so loud, that it's fun to see the OTT attitude on screen too. It makes for natural entertainment," says the insider.
[Courtesy: DNA. Edited for sikhchic.com]
April 25, 2012
Conversation about this article
1: Roop Dhillon (Reigate, United Kingdom), April 25, 2012, 8:09 AM.
Still I prefer to see proper Punjabi films like :Anhey Ghorrey Daa Daan" and "Khamosh Paani" ... we need to use our novels and qissey.
2: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), April 25, 2012, 9:08 AM.
It is absolutely phenomenal just how many Indians watch these 'hotch-potch' films put together mostly for the poor masses to 'escape' their miserable existence!
3: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), April 25, 2012, 11:15 AM.
Being a Punjabi in India is like rolling the dice against very stacked odds. The only reason why Punjabi characters and Sikhs especially have been seen on screen in the post 1990's is because of Bollywood's fascination with the diaspora and it being a source of massive revenues. Punjabis are not only admired for their culture in India but are envied for the fact that the community has succesfully 'escaped' India - in more ways than one!
4: Gur Singh (Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.), April 25, 2012, 2:48 PM.
Hindi (derived from medieval Hindvi) and Punjabi are similarly sounding languages with origins in the field of Drama in the pre-Mughal era (mixture of native lingo with Sanskrit). Punjabi is slightly more succinct and has been historically used for humor and revenge drama whereas Hindi accent has been more used in the context of religious works. I honestly find nothing surprising to see the quick acceptance of Punjabi in Hindi-dominated Bollywood. It was a long overdue process of natural selection.
5: R. Singh (Canada), April 26, 2012, 12:50 PM.
Is it because pre-Punjabi and pre-Sanskirt are references to the same lanaguage group that spawned the codified Sanskrit used for vedic scriptures and many different subcontinental patuas which became langauges, with deep connections to modern Punjabi, quite deeply embeded in their structure? Inspite of the hatred being directed at it from the Hindi/Urdu speakers, they cannot expunge it from their system.