Standing tall in the crowd

Jasmine Singh

American writer Richard Bach’s book Jonathan Livingston Seagull tells the story of a seagull who seized by the passion for flight, tries to learn everything about it. This seagull did not conform to the protocol of the flock; it made his own rules, etched his own path to fulfil its dreams. 

Meeting Punjabi writer Pali Bhupinder, who is also serving in the Department of Indian Theatre, Panjab University, as an associate professor, one cannot help see Richard Bach’s seagull in him. 

First take

An educationist, dramatist and writer from Jaito, Pali Bhupinder made an entry into Punjabi film industry with his directorial debut — Hindi-Punjabi film Stupid 7. Even though Pali had written more than 40 full length and short plays before this, the debacle of Stupid 7 pushed him into the forgotten alley. But, the writer was not ready to conform to the rules set by the industry. “Since Stupid 7 could not be released properly and didn’t recover money accordingly, I was out of work for a good time. And then one day, Gippy approached me to write a Punjabi film titled Lock. This is where I came in touch with director Smeep Kang and till date we share a pleasant working relationship. Now, as a writer, my latest, Laavan Phere, has done pretty well, and I am writing a sequel for it,” shares Pali who cannot see himself being a part of any ‘group’ in the Punjabi film industry. “I am a group in myself,” he laughs.

Strong beliefs

Despite the problems he faced and still facing due to groupism in the industry, Pali has always held his ground, written about subjects he strongly feels about, rather than following the popular trend — comedy!

“Comedy is not my genre; all the same, my attempt in Laavan Phere was to keep it situational so that it has a recall value. I feel we can make good comedy films like Mr Bean if only we do away with jokes and punches, and stick to the situation.”

Pali is currently directing three short stories for PTC Channel, all written by him. This is how he would ideally prefer, writing and directing his own story. “Ideally,” he smiles on the pause. “About the three short stories, the first is a political story; a genre Punjabi filmmakers are not yet comfortable with.”

There are many genres that Punjabi filmmakers are not comfortable with, in fact they rule out any genre that doesn’t translate into a box-office hit! “We need to find a middle path for entertainment, meaningful and commercial cinema. Now, a Punjabi film like Jora 10 Numbariya is a well-made film, but it didn’t ring a bell at the box-office.” 

Pali feels that the industry needs good writers who can offer different stories, “These stories, however, should be rooted in Punjabi culture, as this is the only way that the audiences can connect to a film,” shares the writer, who is hopeful of seeing an era where Punjabi films will be made with a 100-crore budget. “Not an era; in the coming 2-3 years, you will be a witness to this. At present, filmmakers do not think beyond Rs 10-20 crore, but if someone dares to take up a fantastic subject from Punjab itself, we can reach Rs 150-crore,” he signs off.