A film crossing a new border

Punjabi cinema’s history reaches across the border created in 1947. Reporting in The Tribune, Vishav Bharti cites film historian Bhim Raj Garg’s account of Chaman, a Punjabi film produced in independent India. Garg says it opened in Lahore in August 1948, then appeared in Bombay and Amritsar later that year. His account illustrates how audiences and distribution could still connect cities after Partition, even as migration and the new boundary disrupted an older film world. The article attributes this release chronology to Garg; contemporary advertisements or cinema records would provide a further check.[4]

Contrasting screen conventions

Harneet Kaur’s 2024 criticism contrasts the forceful, commanding male hero of familiar Punjabi film conventions with other ways of organising a screen narrative. Her discussion describes a later comic hero who can expose his own weaknesses, alongside quieter films that give attention to marginalised lives. In her reading of Anhe Ghore da Daan, restrained presentation stands against elaborate song, dance and fight spectacle. This is a formal comparison within her argument, rather than a claim that every film belongs to one of two fixed camps. Her critical account also cannot stand in for independently viewing the films or reading the novels behind adaptations.[1]

Collecting an illustrated history

A 2019 interview with Mandeep Singh Sidhu shows another kind of historical work: assembling dispersed material. He describes collecting records, cassettes, VHS tapes and DVDs, then seeking film-related magazines, literature and private collections while researching The Illustrated History of Punjabi Cinema. The account includes library visits and travel beyond Punjab, with contributions arriving through personal networks. It names film booklets sent by Balbir Singh Kanwal and a collection contributed by Balkit Singh Pesi. The reported book also includes many covers of 78 RPM records. This makes the history of preservation partly a history of finding people who kept things. The interview documents Sidhu’s research process; it is not this page’s inspection of his entire book, his holdings or the films and recordings he collected.[2]

Preservation in a programme

The Press Information Bureau’s 14 November 2022 IFFI announcement lists the 1969 Punjabi film Nanak Nam Jahaz Hai in its Indian Restored Classics programme. This places a Punjabi work within a national preservation presentation. Programme inclusion remains an announced selection, not proof here of a completed screening or an assessment of restoration quality.[3]

A later award

National awards provide one way to trace a later moment in the industry. In its 2025 announcement of awards for films from 2023, India’s Press Information Bureau lists Godday Godday Chaa as best Punjabi film and credits Vijay Kumar Arora as director. The dated announcement establishes a particular award and its credited production team; it does not measure all Punjabi cinema or substitute for watching the film.[5]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. Harneet Kaur. Contemporising Punjabi Cinema: Chronology and Culture ↗Film criticism; publisher HTML · Source date: 2024-02-28 · Locator: Section 4, selected formal comparisons. Accessed 2026-11-02.Publisher HTML read; PDF access failed; no films viewed.Return to Contrasting screen conventions, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. Parul. The picture story ↗Collector interview · Source date: 2019-06-29 · Locator: Research process and contributors. Accessed 2026-11-02.Interview read; book and collection unexamined.Return to Collecting an illustrated history, paragraph 1 ↑
  3. Press Information Bureau. 53rd Edition of International Film Festival of India to be hosted in Goa from November 20 to 28, 2022 ↗Official programme announcement · Source date: 2022-11-14 · Locator: Indian Restored Classics paragraph. Accessed 2026-11-02.Announcement read; screening not verified.Return to Preservation in a programme, paragraph 1 ↑
  4. Vishav Bharti / The Tribune. Post-1947, India’s first Punjabi film was released in Lahore ↗Newspaper report and historian interview · Source date: 2017-08-14 · Locator: Bhim Raj Garg’s account of Chaman and 1948 releases. Accessed 2026-11-04.The report attributes the release sequence to film historian Bhim Raj Garg; cinema advertisements, exhibition records and the film were not independently examined.Return to A film crossing a new border, paragraph 1 ↑
  5. Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. 71st National Film Awards for the year 2023 announced ↗Official award announcement · Source date: 2025-08-01 · Locator: Feature films table, item 34, Best Punjabi Film. Accessed 2026-11-04.Official announcement names the film, director and producers; the film and jury deliberations were not independently examined.Return to A later award, paragraph 1 ↑
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Record PH-CUL-0147 · English edition · human review not performed