It8217;s the Time to Bhangra

8216;8216;Within the first three weeks of its Punjab release on May 7, its collections have been more than those of any Punjabi film ever, even though it is competing with the likes of Yuva and Main Hoon Na,8217;8217; says Ravi Kant Walia, the film8217;s distributor for Punjab.

Gurinder Chadha can bend it a bit too. Audiences in the UK, US and Canada are also queuing up and 8216;8216;there8217;s 10 days8217; advance booking for the film8217;s tickets in Toronto and Birmingham,8217;8217; says Dr Dalwinder Singh, who has distributed the film abroad.

The once successful Punjabi film industry seems to be on the way up again. 8216;8216;Asa Nu8230; has proved that Punjabi films can draw audiences, compete with Bollywood films and make money,8217;8217; says Manmohan Singh.

His lead actor and current Punjab heart-throb Harbhajan Mann agrees. 8216;8216;The success of Asa Nu8230; will definitely have a cascade effect. ETC channel has already announced three Punjabi films.8217;8217;

There are certainly some interesting projects and big names waiting to hit the silver screen. Producer Manjeet Mann8217;s Des Hoya Pardes, which stars Juhi Chawla, Gurdas Mann, Divya Dutta and Parmeet Sethi, is in the post-production stage.

Pind Di Kudi, an Indo-Pak joint venture, is being produced by Iqbal Singh Dhillon of Shaheed Udham Singh fame. Directed by Sukhwant Dada, who earlier directed Ek Chadar Maili Si, it stars Sarvjeet Cheema, Sheeba Butt of Bakra Kishton Pe fame and well-known Pakistani theatre personality Tarik Javied. The film is slated for a June release. 8216;8216;Our film tells the story of Bhands and Marasis professional jesters, an integral part of our culture who are dying out,8217;8217; says Dhillon.

8220;We8217;re planning three Punjabi films with a budget of Rs 3-4 crore each. We8217;re talking to established Bollywood directors, producers and music directors with a Punjabi background, and you can expect some big names to be associated with the films,8221; says Rabindra Narayan, president, ETC Punjabi. The channel is also launching a Punjabi film festival, starting this month and ending on August 15, in which seven Pakistani Punjabi films will be aired.

The thriving Punjabi film industry that produced nationwide hits such as Chann Pardesi, Nanak Naam Jahaj and Laung Da Lishkara, virtually perished in the late 8217;80s. The reasons were many: To cater to the masses, compromises were made on quality. Money was scarce; the state government refused to subsidise the inferior products, and audiences turned to Bollywood. Finally, terrorism dealt the death blow.

However, with the return of normalcy in the late 8217;90s, industrywallahs began to pick up the pieces. In 1999, Jaspal Bhatti8217;s Mahaul Theek Hai, a spoof on the corrupt police force, became a hit within Punjab. Next, Gurdas Mann8217;s home production starring himself and Divya Dutta, Shaheed-E-Mohabbat Boota Singh, won a National Award in the regional film category.

But it was only in 2000 that a Punjabi film actually made money. Jee Aayan Nu, which dealt with NRIs8217; struggle to adjust to their foreign surroundings while staying true to their roots, starred reigning pop sensation Harbhajan Mann, Bollywood actress Priya Gill and model Kirandeep Kimmi, and was a hit in Punjab and abroad. 8216;8216;The film had a multi-crore budget, which was unheard of in Punjabi cinema. People thought we were crazy, but we proved them wrong,8217;8217; says Manmohan Singh, who shot Yash Chopra films such as Chandni, Lamhe and Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge and also directed Jee Aayan Nu. 8216;8216;I wanted to make a product comparable to the best in Bollywood,8217;8217; says Singh.

Even as Asa Nu8230; sets the box-office registers ringing, there8217;s news that producer Vicky Kumar, who recently produced the Sunny Deol-starrer Lakeer, has signed Karisma Kapoor for a Punjabi film. Though Kapoor8217;s secretary, Zayed Khan, says she hasn8217;t yet given her nod, the idea has got the industry excited. 8216;8216;Punjabis have always been the backbone of Bollywood. If they decide to turn their eyes back home, the possibilities are immense,8217;8217; says Singh.

Bobby Deol, Akshaye Khanna and Karisma Kapoor in a Yash Chopra-produced Punjabi film, anyone?