A Missed Call

Writer: Satish Verma

Music: Prince Aujla,Bhinda Ghuman

Actors: Sarbjit Cheema,Binnu Dhillon,

Anisha Pooja

Rating: *

If any Punjabi film has been subjected to a big bummer of an opening,especially in the tri-city,it has to be this week’s release — Punjab Bolda. Not only did the film had next-to-none shows,its morning screening at Piccadily Square was cancelled due to zero ticket sales. This,at a time,when Piccadily has celebrated consecutive houseful shows for almost all Punjabi films released this year.

Anyway,after being turned down by Piccadily,we scooted to Fun Cinemas,only to find ourselves among one of the five cinegoers (mostly fellow film critics) in the hall. Is it that bad? Yes. On paper,Punjab Bolda may sound solid,as one of those “salvage Punjab” films (stressing on heritage,land,youth and daughters),with a mission up its spools. Unfortunately,it falls flat in execution,and one of the main culprits is the problem of plenty.

Director Ravinder Peepat and writer Satish Verma have stuffed in too many issues in one film,and as a result,it loses focus. Gurbaksh (Sarbjit Cheema) is the village hero,the vigilante who wants to uproot the problem of drug addiction. How and when it derails to daughters and dowry,the eternal conflict between dollar dreams and motherland,and the matters of love and marriage,baffles us. At the risk of sounding a bit harsh,the film — with its overbearing melodrama,those ’80s “jatt te zameen” dialogues and endless songs (10 in all) — was more side-splitting than any of the regular comedies. The cherry on the cake was Cheema’s ode to hockey as Punjab’s rocking sport. It made sense when we came to know that the singer-actor was the captain of his school’s hockey team and also the leader of his college’s bhangra team.

While Anisha Pooja looks out of place,the casting of Binnu Dhillon,BN Sharma and Shivinder Mahal is a sheer waste of talent. So are the sundry actors who make up Cheema’s entourage and his gang of friends. If only Peepat had steered clear of cliches and lectures. What got our money and time’s worth was watching a confident Cheema,despite his middle age,trying to pull off the role of a 20-something guy,riding a tractor with gigantic woofers fitted on it. Now that’s Punjab bolda as well as bajdaa.