Untapped potential of Haryanvi cinema

Satyawan Malik

Of late, Bollywood reached out to Haryana and, in fact, cashed in on its socio-cultural actualities. Bollywood went ahead experimenting movies based on sports. “Dangal”, a movie based on wrestler Phogat sisters, was a blockbuster not only in India but also in China. Other successful movies are “Sultan”, “Tanu Weds Manu”, “Highway” and “NH 10”.

Unfortunately, the Haryanvi cinema couldn’t grow like the Bollywood industry. The Haryanvi cinema that once looked promising is insufficient and unimpressive. 

The journey of the Haryanvi cinema began with “Dharti” (1968) as the first movie in Haryanvi dialect, to be followed by “Harphool Singh Jat Julani” (1970), “Beera Shera” (1973) and “Bahurani” (1982). The three movies produced before 1982 didn't do well on the box office. It was only with “Chandrawal” (1984) that a regional film was able to match the popularity of Hindi movies. Blockbuster “Chandrawal” pulled crowd not only in Haryana but also in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan. Its plot underpinned the inter-caste love tale of a Jat boy, Suraj, and a Gadia Lohar girl, Chandrawal. They fall in love, being oblivious of fierce opposition from their communities. Both meet a tragic end. 

The lyrics, dance and music of “Chandrawal” are ageless. Some of its songs: “Jija Tu Kala Mai Gori Ghani”, “Main Suraj Tu Chandrawal Mhara Joda Thath Ka”, “Gaade Aali Gajban Chhori Bahadurgarh Ka Bomb” and “Nain Katore Kajal Dore” are still remembered. Those associated with the movie like Usha Sharma (producer and actress), Devi Shankar Prabhakar (script writer), Jayant Prabhakar (director), Bhal Singh (singer), Jagat Jakhar (actor) and JP Kaushik (music director) became popular. The hilarious comedy by Roondah (Naseeb Singh Kundu) and Khoondah (Daryav Singh Malik) is commendable.

Earlier, women rarely went to theatres to watch movies but “Chandrawal” broke this barrier. The movie saw attitudinal flexibility, at least among urban men who let women watch movies in cinema halls.

 “Lado Basanti” (1985) was also a popular movie. It showcases a Haryana village setting and social order. Daryav Singh Malik playing a typically miser shopkeeper, Lala Mukandi, is very appealing.

“Gulabo” (1987) also presents a tale of love between a widow’s son, schoolteacher Karan, and Gulabo, daughter of a muscleman in the village. Humour in the movie is a poor copy of “Chandrawal”.

Later movies such as “Bairee”, “Phool Badan”, “Chandro”, “Jatani”, “Chora Jat Ka”, “Panghat”, “Mahari Dharti Mahari Maa”, “Sanjhi”, “Lilo Chaman”, “Chhail Gabru” and “Chhail Gaeliyan Jaangi” are worth mentioning. Most movies have themes of love, family feuds or soldiers’ patriotism. “Zar, Zoru aur Zameen” (1988) chauvinistically puts the blame on wealth, women and land for all skirmishes in the world. “Laado” (2000) won accolades. “Pagdi: The Honour” (2014) received two National Film Awards in the 62nd Film Festival for Best Supporting Actress and Best Feature Film in Haryanvi. But “Satrangi” (2016) had a few takers.

Many movies couldn’t impress people as “Chandrawal” did. Sadly, the diversity of themes stay unexplored, music is repetitive and plots unorganised, lacking unity of action. Music too suffers from repetitive chorus and tunes. A conscious mix of Hindi with Haryanvi dialect impedes desired effects. People in Haryana speak many dialects such as Bangaru, Bagdi, Punjabi, Khadi Boli and Rajasthani and hence a regional film that usually uses one dialect fails to impress everyone. Other challenges are Bollywood’s dominance, gender and caste-biased representation, scanty audience, poor cinematography, dearth of professional directors and scriptwriters, non-availability of trained and experienced actors and no shooting studios. It was only in 2014 that the State University of Performing and Visual Arts, Rohtak, was founded to promote fine arts, film and television, etc. Vice-Chancellor Dr Rajbir Lohan says the university is working to provide world class infrastructure and required impetus in fine arts, acting and cinema. 

(The writer is Associate Professor of English, Government College, Jind)