Armed with his first National Award for Punjabi film Nabar,filmmaker Rajeev Sharma is now ready with a women-centric story. When it comes to films,Rajeev Sharma has trained his eye to catch characters and stories that no one talks about. Reported in papers,languishing in government offices,lost overseas,buried in files and fading away in memory its these kind of odd pieces that Sharma picks and puts together. Touched by one such story,Sharma gave it the form and structure of a film,one that went on to bag the National Award for Best Feature Film in the regional category. Titled Nabar (meaning a rebel),the film captures the lure of dollars,immigration rackets and the nexus of travel agents. Inspired from a news report that Sharma came across a couple of years ago,Nabar is the story of a Punjabi boy from Hoshiarpur who was allegedly murdered in Mumbai by unscrupulous travel agents who promised to send him abroad. In spite of opposition from all quarters,the boys father fought the case and the agents were sentenced to life, says Sharma. Made on a budget of Rs 50 lakh,and produced by Jasbir Singh Derewal,Nabar was submitted for the National Awards on the last date January 21. We thought,why not give it a shot? It is a burning issue in Punjab, says Sharma,who faced a lot of financial difficulty in making the film. The film features singer Nishwan Bhullar,and theatre artistes Hardeep Gill,Harvinder Kaur Babli,Geetanjali Gill and Rana Ranbir. Taking a detour from the usual,Sharma added a spiritual touch to the films music with shabads sung by the grandson of Baba Ghulam Ali Khan of the Patiala gharana,Jyoti Nooran of Coke Studio fame,besides Bhullar,Mallika and Barkat Sidhu. The music is composed by UK-based Channi Singh. The film has been produced by Hands On Productions and Channel Punjab Productions,and will release in June. Sharma has planned its screenings across Punjab. Committed to throwing light on social issues through cinema,Sharma made a short film before Nabar,called Aatu Khoji,about a man who has an unusual way to detect crime. He catches criminals by merely studying their footprints, says Sharma. Sharma feels Punjabi cinema is in need of quality content. There is no boom only one or two films out of 20 do well. There is hype and technical excellence,but we lag behind in script and story, he says. It is diversification of subjects that he is focusing on. The next project is close to Sharmas heart,for it turns the spotlight on the women of Punjab. Drugs,honour killings,land grabbing and 1984 riots four women-centric stories are the theme of my next film, says Sharma.
