Punjabi cinema in 2017

On the last day of 2017, I have decided to give my views on punjabi cinema in the year 2017. My review can be wrong or write but I have already said that I am no expert.

According to me, 2017 was pretty mixed bag. It started with a bang but ended with bust.

First big movie of 2017 was Sarvann.  It was highly anticipated but failed to live upto the expectations. Amrinder Gill’s charisma and Priyanka Chopra’s debut production venture in Pollywood wasn’t enough to make this movie a success. It lacked one thing that make punjabi movies click (humor).

First big hit of 2017 was Manje Bistre starring Gippy Grewal and Sonam kapoor which was proven to be one of the biggest hits of Punjabi cinema. It was a success both in India and overseas. Real Punjabi wedding scenario was loved by the Punjabi audience. Along the same time, Jindua was released starring Jimmy Shergil, Sargun Mehta and Neeru Bajwa. Jimmy Shergill is one of the most beloved Punjabi actor. It is admirable that despite his success in Bollywood, he works in Punjabi movies from time to time. Jindua was also well loved by the audience and was a big hit.

One of the biggest surprise for me was Rabb da Radio.  It was not a huge box office success but developed a following on You tube. I was fooled by its poster as it showed its main actor Tasreem jassar. I thought that it will focus on the life of a man but it focused mainly on its heroine. Simi Chahal was the USP of the film. It is great to see a movie with Female protagnist. Punjabi cinema should focus more on female led movies. In 2016, Kulraj randhawa, Neeru Bajwa and Jaspinder Cheema showed that movies can succeed with female lead.

First Punjabi super hero movie was also released in 2017. Super Singh was more in the mold of Jatt and Juliet. It looked like Fateh Singh with superpowers. It is good to see a superhero movie in Punjab. Unlike Margaret Redlich of Don’t call it Bollywood, I respect superhero genre and Hollywood. Hence, I won’t say that it was any way near Wonder Woman, Logan, Thor: Ragnarok etc. It will be extremely stupid thing to say. But I will say that it was a good attempt. It was a movie that was promoted on the Kapil Sharma show and enjoyed main stream popularity. Its problem was that it relied too much on Diljit.

By the end of the first half of year, there was Vekh Barataan Challiyan. It was also a surprise hit. It starred Binnu Dhillon and Kavita Kaushik with Amrinder Gill in special appearence. It was a good movie. At first glance, it looked like a simple comedy movie but turned out to be quite emotional in the end. It was the last big hit on 2017.

Second half was pretty dull. There were hits like Sat Sri Akal England, Thug Life, Nikka Zaildar 2 but none of them were quite special.  Great Sardar was the worst movie of the year. It was sad that Toofan Singh was banned from getting released in India. It was successful overseas. Only movie of note was Sardar Mohammad which was also not upto the mark.

According to me, it was a mixed bag for Punjabi cinema in 2017. First half tasted success but not the second half.  Line up for the first half of 2018 looks good so far with movies like Sajjan Singh rangroot, Daana Paani, Subedar joginder  Singh, Carry on Jatta 2, Nankana releasing in that time frame. 2018 should turn out to be a good year for Punjabi cinema as the most awaited movies as pretty much unconventional.