| Tale of a father’s struggle for justice bags National Award |
6th Apr 2013
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Rajeev Sharma
abar, the directorial debut film of Rajeev Sharma has won the National Award for Best Feature Film in Punjabi 2012. Sharma spoke with Guardian20 about this intriguing feature which is all set to hit screens in July.
Q. Nabar means rebellion, have you referred to a specific rebellion in the movie?
A. Nabar is the unsung saga of a father who becomes a fighter from a farmer. It is the story of his relentless struggle to secure justice for his murdered son. It depicts the transformation of emotions and is a story which has never been told before. It is a story that reflects emotions, love, anger and happiness and I am sure everyone will try to connect with the incidents in one way or the other.
Q. How important is this award for you and how significant is it for Punjabi Cinema?
A. The National Award is prestigious, and means a lot to any director, especially for a debutant like me. The stature of this award definitely upholds the potential of the Punjabi film industry as it is the only movie in last 5 years, apart from Anhe Gohre Da Daan, that has secured the category.
Q. Punjabi Cinema is doing well then by market standards. How do you then account for this inconsistency at the National awards platform?
A. Forget about the existing phase of Punjabi Cinema, in fact, in the last 50 years, only 12 Punjabi movies bagged the National Awards, which is attributable to the lack of conviction. Just because one movie or one genre does well, all follow suit, to say the least. For instance, after the roaring success of Carry on Jatta and Jatt and Juliet, today, most of the movies that you see are in a way or other a copy of each other, with wafer-thin variation in dialogues, characters, location, and actors.
Q. There's not much variation in the star cast as well. Does Punjab lack talent or is it again because of lack of conviction?
A. No, there is no dearth of fresh faces and talent in Punjab. In my movie, 90 percent of the actors are new and almost all are from a theatre background. These actors are not commercially viable and hence are left behind. Big investors invest in movies just for the heck of movie-making. Their first preference remains established actors, which attracts a lot of audience. Though this trend is fast picking up and is being accepted, but, will gradually deteriorate the standard of the Punjabi cinema.
Q. Is there something in the pipeline after Nabar?
A. Yes, I have started working on my next movie titled Rakaan/s. Like Nabar, this movie is also inspired by a real-life story. I believe women characters are never portrayed in terms of their true value and sensibility. A woman's contribution to society and her struggle seldom gets translated in screenplays and plots. The value of a woman resides in objectifying her as a body. My upcoming movie is about the lives of four women whose narratives centre on honour killing, drug abuse, the '84 riots and land grabbing.
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