PUNJABI ANTENNA
 Lacklustre show
Randeep Wadehra

IT would have been a bit too optimistic to expect great transformation in the Punjabi television scene during this column’s absence over the past few months, but certain welcome changes have added to its attractiveness. While most other channels are sticking to the song, dance and flat comedy routine, PBC TV has been coming up with some thought-provoking programmes. For instance Maavan Thandian Chaavan focused on mother’s changing role and status in society. However, the show would have been more enlightening had the participants eschewed emotion- laced homilies and come up with concrete and practical suggestions for improving the lot of females in general and mothers in particular.

Similarly, the concept of this channel’s other show Khas Mulakat is good but the question-answer format is a bit amateurish, almost schoolboyish. And, what little one has seen of the channel’s news anchors, they could do with more imaginative presentation and better dress sense.

Crossover cinema is in vogue. Most of the recent Punjabi productions have had Canada, the UK or the US as backdrops for their narratives but Harbux Lattta’s Babal da Vehra has gone Down Under. Latta is a much awarded producer and director. Winner of the Punjab Government’s Shiromani Telefilm Nirmata (1992), the Balraj Sahni Award (2004) etc, Latta has produced / directed TV serials like Ekas Ke Hum Barik, Rin Pitran Da and Gaddar Di Goonj; telefilms/plays like Surkhian, Kallam Kala Tapoo, Tera Ghar So Mera Ghar etc apart from numerous documentaries, video flicks and sight ‘n’ sound shows. In 1983 he had directed a feature film Sardara Kartara which was well received by viewers. Now he has come up with a crossover family saga, Babal da Vehra, which is based on Dalip Kaur Tiwana’s novel Rin Pitran Da. The story is about Vikram, born to a Punjabi father and Australian mother, who comes to India in search of his father only to discover that he has an Indian step-mother and step-sister. Thus begins an emotional drama leading to confrontations and reconciliations. Latta claims that, in this flick, he has transformed Yograj’s image from a high-decibel dialogue-spewing villain to that of a soft-spoken grandpa that would impact the audience in the same manner as Pran had done in Upkar. Touchwood!