Contemporising Punjabi Cinema: Chronology and Culture

Indian Cinema is a complex and layered structure with Mumbai based Bollywood productions calling the shots. However, cinema in various languages of India, based out of the many different states is what lends the colour of diversity and the flavor of the local to cinema in India. The present contribution seeks to look at Punjabi cinema through the lens of masculinity, caste, and the evolution of themes. A brief historical perspective on Punjabi cinema is imperative to locate contemporary themes and depictions in the correct light. Cinema in Punjab has evolved over the last fifty years from the depiction of the rural Jatt hero of the 1980s to the NRI Jatt hero of the 2000s. The music industry of Punjab is also inextricably linked to Punjabi cinema as many singers feature as actors and heroes in films. The same is not true for female singers, bringing in the issue of gender and at times, toxic masculinity in Punjabi cinema. The women in Punjabi cinema are either young enchantresses or matronly mothers, who pamper the hero in equal measure. The paper will examine in detail some protagonists of Punjabi cinema who resonate across decades and are glorified till date. The issue of the usually upper caste hero and his family controlling the village with guns and goons has been a recurring image throughout the course of Punjabi cinema. Bollywood, too, cannot do without its fix of at least one Punjabi song, remixed or original and one character who belongs to Punjab. Thus, the chapter will bring out the nuances of Punjabi culture as depicted in Punjabi cinema, adding to the existing scholarship from a more contemporary context.