Punjab 1984
| Punjab 1984 | |
|---|---|
 Poster | |
| Directed by | Anurag Singh |
| Produced by |
Gunbir Singh Sidhu Manmord Sidhu |
| Written by |
Surmeet Maavi Anurag Singh |
| Screenplay by | Anurag Singh |
| Story by | Anurag Singh |
| Starring |
Diljit Dosanjh Kirron Kher Pavan Malhotra Sonam Bajwa Ranbir Rana |
| Music by |
Nick Dhammu Gurmeet Singh Jatinder Shah Gurmoh |
| Cinematography | Anshul Chobey |
| Edited by | Manish More |
Production company |
White Hill Productions Basic Brothers Productions |
| Distributed by | White Hill Productions |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 157 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Punjabi |
| Box office | ₹34 crore (US$5.1 million) |
Punjab 1984 (Punjabi: ਪੰਜਾਬ ੧੯੮੪) is a 2014 Punjabi period drama film directed by Anurag Singh. It is based on the 1984-86 Punjab insurgency's impact on social life, notably it is a story of a mother and her missing son. Starring Diljit Dosanjh and Kirron Kher, the film is the fourth collaboration between director Singh and actor Dosanjh. Punjab 1984 released on 27 June 2014 to excellent box office collections.[1]
Plot
The film starts with a scene on June 4, 1984, during Operation Blue Star. A group of pilgrims are locked inside a room in the parkarma, mostly elderly, women, and children, who are dying of dehydration and hunger due to the Army refusing the evacuation of Pilgrims from the Golden Temple Complex. The pilgrims are finally able to open the door locking them in. One of the women in the room, a mother of a newborn who hasn't eaten or drunk in two days, proceeds to go under fire to bring water for the pilgrims from the sarovar. However, one of the elderly pilgrims, Bachan Singh Maan, stops the mother and volunteers to bring water for her child. When he comes out of the room as the firing stops, just when he dips in the sarovar, Indian Army machine gunners kill him.
The story flash forwards to September 1986, where Satwant Kaur (Kirron Kher) is living alone and spends her days sitting outside the area police station. Satwant Kaur now feeds poor children and her son's Hindu best friend Bittu. It's revealed that Satwant's son, Shiva went to work in the field one year ago and never came back. To cope with the loss, Satwant treats Bittu as her son, much to the jealousy and anger of his Hindu parents. Bittu moves on to take Satwant Kaur to a Human Rights Lawyer who is known to have found many boys who were kidnapped by the Punjab Police and keeps a record of the boys who were killed in fake encounters.
The story then flashes back to 1984, a day before Operation Blue Star. Shivjeet, or Shiva (Diljit Dosanjh), is a college going young adult who is an avid fan of Kuldeep Manak and loves Jeeti, (Sonam Bajwa) his classmate. Shiva is having a land feud with his corrupt and drug-addicted cousin Jaggi, who is best friends with the village Inspector Deep Singh Rana. In enters Inspector Deep Singh Rana (Pavan Malhotra), a sadistic, apathetic, police officer who kills innocent Sikhs and Hindus for rank promotions and under orders from the Central Government. While facing Jaggi and Rana, Shiva guarantees that none of them can plow his land while he's still alive. At home, Shiva has an argument with his dad because his dad is a law-abiding and court-going man while Shiva believes that none other than the almighty guarantees his rights. Satwant Kaur reveals to Shiva of her knowledge of his secretive dating of Jeeti. In the morning, Bachan Singh leaves for Amritsar.
When Shiva, Bittu, and Satwant wake up in the morning, they find out that all of Punjab is under Military Rule and that there is an indefinite Curfew upon the entire state. There is an entire media blackout, with the only news coming from the Military Radio Channel, which is only referring to Operation Blue Star as a minor incident occurring in Amritsar. The entire state is at a standstill while everyone is listening to the Radio updates on the situtation in Amritsar. Meanwhile, Bachan Singh is trapped in the Darbar Sahib complex. Against Army orders, the village gurdwara announces that in reality, the Army has invaded Darbar Sahib with tanks and gunner helicopters and the entire city of Amritsar is being shelled. Bittu and Shiva then proceed to sneak their way to Amritsar on their tractor to try to find out whats happening. They encounter an Army blockade on the road to Amritsar, where countless people are pushing against the barricade to make their way to Amritsar, just as Shiv and Bittu are. In the entire situation, Shiv is rifle-butted by soldiers and countless protesters have been killed.
After the Operation, Bittu, Satwant, and Shiva go to the Emergency Police Station, to try to find out the whereabouts of Bachan Singh. The police officers treat them badly as it's found out that the government declared Bachan Singh a terrorist who took up arms against the state and executed him. The next person in the line of people at the Police Station, who's brother was also at the Golden Temple, was meanwhile declared a peaceful pilgrim killed in "cross fire." When Bittu asks for Bachan's remains, the Police say that the Army already incinerated all evidence of the "terrorists."
Shiva has now left college, doesn't use his radio anymore due to the broadcast of Operation Blue Star coming on it, and spends his days working and mourning on the farm to cope with the loss of his father. To help cheer Shiva up, his mother places the radio in the courtyard and talks about selling it. The reverse-psychology works and Shiv starts playing Kuldip Manak songs loudly on the radio while going to the fields. While working in the fields, Rana shows up and changes Shiv's radio's channel to the News, which is informing of a "terrorist" attack in Tarn Taran, with the police looking for the culprits. Shiv's mute friend immediately runs to Satwant Kaur's house, where she doesn't understand what he's trying to say until the boy makes the sound of a "kutti," referring to the stopper on a "Halt" Well system, meaning one thing: Shiv's in trouble.
The story flashes back to 1986, where the Human Rights Lawyer asks Satwant to check the record of the youth killed in fake encounters. Fortunately, Shivjeet is not in the album or list of those killed. Satwant and Bittu then go to the local politician Darshan Singh Poonpuri, a peace loving separatist, who vows to help them find Shiv.
When Bittu comes Home, his parents scold him for staying out and helping someone else's parent's instead of his own. His parents also accuse him of helping out a "terrorists" mother in a time where Hindus are being targeted. Bittu replies that it is going just as bad for the Sikhs as it is for the Hindus. Jeeti's aunt and uncle attempt to convince her to marry someone else, since it isn't sure if Shiva is alive or not.
When Satwant Kaur goes to the Police Station as she does daily, a news reporter from a prominent news outlet tries to interview and record her story. However, the stationed police officers find out from their superiors that the Human Rights organization has found out about Shivjeet and has taken the case to the central government. Rana comes outside and beats the journalist brutally and shamelessly beat the elderly Satwant Kaur to near unconsciousness.
One of the police officers working for Rana, also known for haven killing many innocents, secretly comes to Satwant Kaur's home to reveal to her what really happened to Shiva: Shiva was picked up and beaten to unconsciousness while being "interrogated" for "terrorism." Later, Rana and the police officer who has come to Satwant tried to kill Shiva and 4 other youth in a fake encounter, successfully killing two. Shiva refused to run in front of the Police and was able to overpower Rana and escape with Taari (Rana Ranbir) and Pinda. When the Police Officer tries to leave, Satwant Kaur requests that he eat at her house, returning the favor that he did upon her and so that when her son is ever in a condition like this, someone may feed him too. The Cop leaves in shame after realizing what his actions have been and while leaving, tells Satwant Kaur where Pinda might be.
When Bittu and Satwant Kaur go to the police station where Pinda might be, the police inspector tells them that he never heard of said lad. Bittu and Satwatn Kaur then proceed to Pinda's house, whose family tell them that they haven't seen Pinda in a year themselves. While leaving, Satwant requests Pinda's family that if Pinda ever comes by, do ask him about Shivjeet. Right before they leave the gate, Pinda's mother stops them and reveals that they were lying; In fact, Pinda was tortured by the Police when he was captured after his escape and was crippled. He is currently living in hiding in their house, after his parents bribed the Inspector that Satwant talked to earlier. Pinda immediately recognizes Satwant as Shiv's mother, since Shiv always talked about her. Pinda begins to talk about what happened.
One year ago, after escaping the police, Shiv, Taari, and Pinda went into hiding on Taari's relatives farm and began telling eachother how they all came into police custody.
Taari was a Separatist poet and journalist for a couple of Print Magazines and News Papers. Taari was friends with Rebel Sukhdev Singh Sarhali (Manav Vij), due to which Taari was arrested under TADA. However, the real reason Taari was arrested was so that he couldn't write more Revoulutionary Poetry. The Police subsequently crippled his writing hand. Shivjeet then recalls that he recited Taari's poems in college for multiple school projects.
Pinda was a college going young adult who beat up a man who was eves teasing his girlfriend. The man he beat up turned out to be the son of a Police Inspector, who arrested Pinda. When Pinda was given a chance to apologize and spare himself, the police ordered him to get a rakhri tied on his wrist by his girlfriend, accepting eachother as brother and sister. Pinda, once again, beat up the police officer's son. In revenge, the police inspector slapped fake TADA charges against him. When being tortured, Pinda attempted Suicide rather than face the humiliation of being tortured by police.
Cast
- Diljit Dosanjh as Shivjeet Singh Mann a.k.a. Shiva
- Kirron Kher as Satwant Kaur (Shivjeet's mother)
- Sonam Bajwa as Jeeti
- Pavan Malhotra as Inspector Deep Singh Rana
- Rana Ranbir as Jagtar Singh Taari
- Kartar Cheema as Police Officer (Jeeti's husband)
- Vishwas Kini as Pinda
- Manav Vij as Sukhdev Singh Sarhali
- Raja Singh
- Vansh Bhardwaj as Bittu
- Arun Bali as Darshan Singh Poonpuri
- Gurcharan Channi as Bachan Singh Mann a.k.a. Mann Saab (Shivjeet's father)
Reception
Punjab 1984 received positive reviews from critics as well as audiences.[2] A leading portal on the Punjabi film industry, Myballewood.com, claimed that it was "destined to be a classic...Anurag Singh [is] a creative genius who knows how to astutely navigate the thinline between art and commerce, creating cinema that has the critics applauding and audiences rushing to the theatres." They gave it a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars.[3]
Box office
Punjab 1984 had a very good opening. The film went on to collect around ₹1.14 crore (US$170,000) in India on day one. The movie had a big Saturday and Sunday; domestic collection reached ₹3.78 crore (US$560,000) in first three days of release.[4] The total first three days worldwide collections reached ₹7 crore (US$1.0 million). Till end of July 2014, it had grossed ₹34 crore (US$5.1 million) worldwide.[5]
PTC Punjabi Film Awards 2015
Punjab 1984 won ten awards at the PTC Punjabi Film Awards in 2015.
| Recipient(s) and nominee(s) | Award Ceremony | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raju Singh | PTC Punjabi Film Awards | Best Background Score | Won |
| Anshul Chobey | Best Cinematography | Won | |
| Raj Ranjodh | Best Lyricist | Won | |
| Gurmeet Singh Jatinder Shah Nick Dhammmu Gurmoh |
Best Music Director | Won | |
| Harshdeep Kaur | Best Playback Singer (Female) | Won | |
| Pavan Malhotra | Best Performance in Negative Role | Won | |
| Diljit Dosanjh | Best Actor | Won | |
| White Hill Productions | Best Film | Won | |
| Kirron Kher | Critics Award for Best Actress | Won | |
| Anurag Singh | Critics Award for Best Director | Won |
62nd National Film Awards
- Won - Best Feature Punjabi Film
References
- ↑ "Punjab 1984". punjabiportal.com. punjabiportal.com. Retrieved 2014-11-05.
- ↑ ""Punjab:1984" has given a fresh imprint to Punjabi films.".
- ↑ "Review of Punjab 1984: Blood, Sweat and Tears". myballewood.com. Retrieved 2014-06-27.
- ↑ "Punjab 1984 Total Weekend Collection". GnewsIndia.com. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
- ↑ "Punjab 1984 grossed 21 crores".