Work begins on Sobha Singh biopic

Lalit Mohan

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Dharamsala, June 13

A Mumbai-based film company has started the work to make a biopic on the life of legendary artist Sobha Singh. A group of film makers from MRM Films today visited Andretta based art gallery of Sobha Singh. They also met with the family of Sobha Singh and gathered data on the artist from family members and other residents of Andretta village.

Sobha Singh, the legendary artist who is credited with making the portraits of Sikh gurus and many other world-famous paintings related with folk and culture of Punjab, spent most of his time in Andretta village where he moved after partition of India in 1947. This tiny hamlet came on the international art map due to the paintings of Sobha Singh Artist. Popularly, it is known as Kalagram (art village) now. Initially, the artist got a small thatched grass-covered hut as a dwelling unit but gradually elaborated it to a full-fledged art gallery. The design of the house was made by him and he kept improving and changing it right from the year 1949 to 1986.

Manmohan Singh, who led a team of film makers to Andretta, while talking to The Tribune, said that he planned the release the biopic on Sobha Singh just before his 125th birth anniversary on November 29, 2026. “In the biopic we will try to bring to the fore the importance of Sobha Singh as an artist and his contribution to Sikh religion and art. He standardised the images of Sikh Gurus after carrying on extensive research on whatever information was available about them. He also created master pieces as Sohni Mehwal that gave life to folklore of Punjab,” he said.

Manmohan Singh said that working on a script was proving to be challenge. “We are doing extensive research on the life of artist from the books available about him, talking to his disciples, family members and visiting the places associated with his life. He has stayed and worked in Lahore, now in Pakistan, stayed in the UK and Iraq. However, after shifting to Andretta he spent most of his life in his small studio creating art masterpieces. Once the script is ready, we would move forward to shooting and deciding the cast of the film,” he said.

Hirday Paul Singh, grandson of Sobha Singh, said that they were approached by film makers for making biopic. “We are extending all help to the film crew in drawing up the script about the legendary artist. We are providing them with letters and writing of Sobha Singh besides his paintings so that they can have an idea about the personality of the artist. My mother Gurcharan Kaur briefed the film crew members about her interactions with her father so that they can idea about the personal life of Sobha Singh which not many people know,” he said.