Aparajita Krishna writes, Chann Pardesi would be a stranger to the young cine-goer, India 2020, including the young diaspora generation.

However, a news item featured in the Hindustan Times, Chandigarh, November 24, 2019 read, 39 years on - Chann Pardesi to again hit screens in 2020. The new version of the movie will be a digital upgraded one as many new things such as colours, sound have been reviewed in the movie.

Director Chitrarth Singh would inform my curiosity on 26^th July this year, that an  appropriate English translation of the title Chann Pardesi could be Lover Gone Away, Distant Lover and Love Faraway. Chann means lover, boyfriend or husband. Pardesi means the one who has gone away.

The new poster of the film was released during the Chandigarh Literati International Lit Fest 2019, at the Lake Club by its director Chitrarth Singh and one of the producers, Baldev Gill. The stars and other team members of the movie reunited on the stage. The digitally remastered version of the original film in high definition digital technology with 5.1 surround sound has upgraded the film viewing. 

Director Chitrarth Singh was quoted saying, “After many years of hard work by the film crew, the movie became a milestone for Punjabi cinema as it was the first movie to win the national award. Whatever we have done so far after this movie, will not make us so much proud as this film did. We were all freshers in our fields as we had no experience.” He informed that before this movie, Punjabi cinema was dominated by people who had migrated from Lahore and the dialect of those movies was different but Chann Pardesi ushered in a new era.

The film had in 1981 featured star-actors of Hindi and Punjabi cinema of the time as well as those who would go on to become big names. The technicians associated would also gather great repute. In the lead were Rama Vij as Kammo, Raj Babbar as Laali, Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Harnek/Nek, Amrish Puri as Jagirdar Joginder Singh, Om Puri as Tulsi, Sushama Seth as Jassi (Joginder Singh’s wife), Mehar Mittal as Pappu and Rajni Sharma as Nimmo.

Main credits are - Presented by: Rameshwari, Director: Chitrarth Singh, Produced by: Mrs Swarn Sedha, Baldev Gill and J.S.Cheema, Screenplay & Film Designed by: Ravinder Peepat, Story & Dialogue: Baldev Gill, Photography: Manmohan Singh, Editing: Subhash Sehgal, Music: Surinder Kohli, Background Music: Uttam Singh, Executive Producer: Yog Raj. 

The re-mastered film was scheduled for release in June 2020. I had back in time viewed the film at the National Film Archives of India (NFAI) Pune. It was a non-subtitled print.

Thereafter I once chanced upon it on Doordarshan too. This come-back film of 1981 combines in its narrative a powerful dramaturgy, sensitive and realistic treatment, very good music, excellent camerawork across locations that had the sweep of interior Punjab’s agrarian and moffasil vistas and a very forceful ensemble acting. Rama Vij, Raj Babbar, Amrish Puri, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Mehar Mittal were in very fine form and Om Puri was much appreciated in his conniving act of an instigator. 

While re-uniting with this seminal film of 1981 that had won box-office success and the National Awards, I am also sharing the talks of people associated with the making of the film. The inputs that I have in my custody were recorded for an assignment in 2008. 

It is fitting that before re-visiting Chann Pardesi one visits a little synopsis flashback of our Punjabi film industry.

Cine-India’s Punjabi film industry came into existence in the pre-partition era and has since travelled its own course in history. The cinema of Punjab is said to have its beginnings with the silent film, Daughters of Today, which was released in 1924 in Lahore. The first sound film Heer Ranjha (Hoor Punjab), was released in 1932. The first Punjabi talkie film Sheela, also known as Pind Di Kurhi, was released in 1935. Young Noorjehan was introduced as an actress-singer in the film.  The partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 and the partition of Punjab also brought about a partition of cinema and compelled many film actors, filmmakers, producers and musicians to change base.   

In 1948, post the partition, Roop K Shorey directed our first Punjabi film Chaman, that was released in East Punjab. The repertoire of India’s Punjabi films has seen a mixed fare of the melodramatic, the ribald and the artistic. Prithviraj Kapoor starrer Nanak Naam Jahaz Hai (1969), was the first film to get the Best Punjabi film National Award. I read with amusement that India’s Punjabi cinema is sometimes also called Pollywood. However, it is to be noted that in the course of decades some Punjabi films in particular have risen much above being the usual ribald comedies or amateur love stories and musicals. In recent years, since the 1980s, the noted Punjabi language films that have also garnered critical acclaim and National Awards have been Kachehari (1984), Marhi Da Deeva (1989), Shaheed-E-Mohabbat Boota Singh (1999), Shaheed Udham Singh (2000), Anhe Ghore Da Dan (2011), Jatt & Juliet (2012), Punjab 1984 (2014), Chauthi Koot (2015), Daani Paani (2018) and Harjeeta (2018). 

Coming back to Chann Pardesi, Subhash Sehgal, editor of the movie, is quoted saying, “I had edited over 40 movies before working for Chann Pardesi. It was totally a different experience that we will never forget. Actually, the importance of the movie is increasing with each passing year.”

Even from today’s gaze the plot’s dramaturgy arrests the viewer. The writing is word-perfect; the drama very realistically portrayed and enacted. The script plays out all the notes of the social and the familial, shaded with love, conflict, hidden secrets, revenge and redemption. All of this became its strength. The Punjab village location gave it a rooted presence.

This collaborative film had quite a few people involved in the making and quite a few credits. The making was itself an improvised ensemble act. “This film came with its own fate,” Deepak Seth would summarise. 

A recall by its makers tells its own story. Chann Pardesi as an idea had germinated with Baldev Gill, J.S.Cheema and Yograj Sedha, who were wanting to make the film. Deepak Seth recalled, while speaking to me at his and actor-wife Rameshwari’s Bandra house in Mumbai, “Then these people phoned me that we have come to make a film. This film actually got developed and made from start to finish in our house. We facilitated the film. That is why in the credit titles it says, Rameshwari Presents.”

My talks with people over the years have kept informing me of the great generosity that actor Rameshwari and her FTII friend and later husband, actor-director-producer Deepak Seth, extended to the struggling fraternity and friends. Their home back in the 1970s and 1980s was a meeting place, adda, for all. On the 15^th February 2008, Deepak Seth had reminisced at his abode, “A group got formed. Rameshwari got commercial success (in films) very early in her career. She kept to her roots.”

Veteran actor Rameshwari confirmed to me that the entire planning, pre-production, sittings etc of the film was held at their  house in Mumbai. “When they would need some money Deepak would arrange. The shooting he attended totally. Because the first shooting schedule went a little haywire, I pushed him there. Koi sir pe baith ke daant-ne wala bhi chahiye hota hai (You need someone to sit on the head and control things). Infact they wanted me to do the role played by Rama Vij. But I could not have done it. I don’t know the language.”

Yograj Sedha informed me on 1^st March 2008, at Mumbai, “I am the producer of the film. In the film my credit comes as executive producer. My wife Mrs Swaran Sedha, her name is there as the producer along with two other friends. I was a government servant and could not give my name. First producer is my wife and then Baldev Gill. He being the writer I had kept him as producer along with Cheema. Chitraath was the director. Dialogue was by Baldev Gill. There was a great deal of team effort. The planning of the film started in 1978. The sittings would be held in Bombay at Rameshwari-Deepak’s place. It all started from there. The script emerged out of the contributions of many people. The story was Baldev Gill’s. He first wrote a draft. Simple. In the villages of Punjab many such incidents happen. The village of Jagraon comes on the way between Ludhiana and Moga. There is the village of Ghalib also near Jagraon. Jagraon was Baldev Gill’s village and he had land there. My maternal side is also from there. Baldev’s brother Ajmer Singh carried a lot many masala (spicey) kisse of real life stories from there. We knitted those in the script. A lot of development happened while writing. The first draft was not up to the mark. We worked on the script for nearly a year. In the interim we went and recorded the songs.”

Ravindra Peepat back then was closely associated with Raj Kapoor and his films. He would on 7^th August 2008, flashback his recall of the making of this film. “I had done my masters in English literature from Chandigarh. Then, in 1972 I joined the FTII (Pune Film Institute) in direction course. Rameshwari had immediately become a quick star (with Dulhan Wahi Jo Piya Mann Bhaye). She bought her house, car. None of us had one. Her’s was an open house. People would be squatting and lying around. Sometimes six, sometimes eight persons would be sleeping all over the place. No problem. Koi shikan nahi thi. Both of them, Rameshwari and Deepak, were fantastic. We were all connected as collaborators with Chann Pardesi. I did contribute a lot in the writing of the script. The film is written by me and Baldev Gill. We both got the credit. If you really want to know the story then it goes so - these two, Baldev Gill and J S Chimma were friends of mine. J S Chimma was studying masters with me at Punjab University, Chandigarh, Dept of English, and Kiran Thakur Singh (Kiran Kher) was then one year junior to me. After passing out from there I came to Bombay and joined Raj Kapoor Saheb at RK’s. Baldev and Chimma came on a tour to Bombay and met me. They mentioned that they want to make a film in Punjabi and asked me to tell them how they could go about it. Yograj had also joined in. Their team had got formed. They brought to me a typed storyline. I read the story. The basic characters of Nek and others were there but the story was only half way through. Nothing after the interval. Baldev Gill had written and got this. I told them that this was just a half hour movie material. A picture is not made like this. They asked me what to do then? I suggested we sit and write together. We started writing the picture together. We wrote till the climax and then halted because I was also working at RK Studio. At that time I was associated with Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Biwi O Biwi and Prem Rog. I suggested that in the interim they go and narrate the worked out storyline to a few actors.”

Deepak Seth further informed, “This script was narrated before Rama Vij to Simi Garewal. We all had gone to narrate. She was English inclined and this Punjabi film did not connect with her.”

Yograj Sedha explained it in his own style. “When we got narrating the role (Kammo eventually played by Rama Vij) to Simi there was in the narration such theath (pure), native lingo words in Punjabi. She didn’t know the meanings. Like in Punjabi, kameez (shirt) is called ‘chaga’. ‘Churi’ is an eatable. She didn’t know. Then we decided otherwise.”

Deepak Seth: “We had narrated the film to Kiran Kher also.”

Ravindra Peepat confessed, “There ended up being a lot of changes in the casting. Rama Vij’s role had gone to 7-8 actresses including Kiran Thakur Singh. But she then got married to Mr Berry. So she called us home and informed of leaving for their honeymoon for two months to Switzerland. She said if we can wait till then then she will do the picture. We said no we have to shoot the next month. She left the picture.”

Yograj Sedha would tell me that it was Ravindra Peepat who suggested taking Rama Vij in the role. That she was a good actress.

Ravindra Peepat confirmed, “Simi Grewal and others came and went from the scene. We told Rama Vij that she will be doing the film just a week in advance.”

The talk also revealed that the role played by Kulbhushan Kharbanda in the film had first gone to Parikshit Sahni. The producers wanted him.

Yograj corroborated, “For the role eventually played by Kulbhushan Kharbanda we had first gone to sign Parikshit Sahni. When Parikshit Sahni heard the script; at that time the script was not a complete one. It was sketchy. The final angle of his character becoming a desperado, the angle of the landlord etc., none of it was there. It initially had the character sent to jail and there shown watering the plants.” It was Parikshit Sahni’s reaction and his remark that stayed with the makers. The actor told them, “What are you doing? This character (Harnek/Nek) has suffered so much of zulm – injustice, and you people are just showing him in jail watering the plants? What is this? Make him a desperado. Come on!”

Deepak Seth took the recall further. “Producers wanted Parikshit Sahni, but there were problems with the dates for shooting. There was one suggestion he gave, which worked out for the script. The original story was quite timid. This character of Nek goes to jail. Parikshit said to us that since we are making a Punjabi film, we should bring in the angle of a rebel, some dacoit track, horses running etc. The idea of giving a dramatic angle to the character of Nek was Parikshit’s.”

Ravindra Peepat would inform me in the present that he had sent Baldev Gill to narrate the role to Parikshit Sahni but with the instruction to only narrate till before the climax. Not to touch upon the climax. “I later learnt that Parikshit Sahni remarked the climax is very bad. There is nothing in it. I reminded Baldev of having forbidden him from narrating any climax. I got angry and on the spur of the moment created further development of the story as in the climax. I went on narrating.”

The script got re-written and uplifted.

In the interim Parikshit Sahni had a fall from a horse, met with this accident  and so could not shoot. The makers, at the behest of Deepak Seth, now approached Kulbhushan Kharbanda for that part. Kulbhushan Kharbanda had already made a mark in Shyam Benegal’s films and was to play Shakaal in the film, Shaan.

The group also roped in Amrish Puri who was then a very experienced theatre actor and a part of Shyam Benegal’s ensemble group. Raj Babbar, another young actor from theatre and one who was to make it big in Hindi cinema was already part of the group and in the cast.

There was more drama and plot awaiting the making of the film even before it went to the shooting floors. Ravinder Peepat reminisced, “The director who the producers had initially got, started getting cold feet at the way the project was expanding. He had thought that it would be a little story that would get shot and made on a  small scale in a village. But the script kept getting expanded. So the director confessed to not being able to handle this canvas. I had completed all the writing by then. Only the dialogues for the climax was left to be written. This was in March. The shooting of my film Biwi O Biwi, came in the interim in April. I told the group that I cannot come for the shooting of Chann Pardesi. But the shooting had to be done at this time of the season because in Punjab once summer sets in then the crops get cut; harvested. Also the dates of Raj Babbar had been taken. I then suggested Chitrarth Singh as the director. We had both passed out of the FTII together. He was my friend. I called up Chitrarth. He got nervous. How was he to handle it at the last moment?”

Chitrarth Singh was trained from the FTII and equipped but the last moment inclusion legitimately made him doubtful. He is said to have remarked, ‘Mujhe toh Punjabi achchi tarah se aati nahi (I do not know Punjabi so well).”

Ravindra Peepat encouraged him by saying, “You know direction. So do it. I will record the whole picture, including the entry of the girl, this that. And moreover Manmohan Singh is the cameraman. He is good. He will help. No problem.” Ravindra Peepat suggested that they shoot all the scenes leaving aside the climax. His logic was as he would explain to me, “Else they would get entangled in the climax. I sent the team. Both Rama Vij and Chitrarth had just a week’s notice for the preparation.”

Deepak Seth confirmed, “In the beginning these people (producers) had got someone else as a director. Someone from theatre in Punjab. They were stuck with that. We had to make them understand that they are making a film. We had to brainwash them. And that is how Chitrarth Singh came in as the director. Ravindra Peepat made a big contribution. Everyone in the crew had the technical talent but the film got its shape as it got made.”

Director Chitrarth Singh would share his own side of the story with me on  26^th January, 2008. "I was from Delhi. I met this whole team during the planning of this film. Almost all of them were staying at Deepak Seth’s house in Bombay. The film was getting shaped from that location itself. I knew Deepak and it was through him that I came in contact with this group of Baldev Gill, Chimma and Yograj Sedha, the producers of the film. The whole set-up got made at Rameshwari-Deepak’s place. There would be a red carpet spread in their hall and mattresses on the floor. Ramehwari was an established actor. Dulhan Wahi Jo Piya Mann Bhaye, was  a hit. She had got more films. Theirs was a big flat at Bandra. In this house a type of a langar would be going on. Free food. Anybody could come and go. People were free to visit, sit in the group, make contacts, use the phone and if need be even spend the night there. We were many people in that group. Gyan Sahay, Manmohan Singh, Peepat, Baldev Gill. It was like an open house. I think even Omji (Om Puri) would sometimes stay over. That house extended such generosity! No wonder till today everyone is so attached to that house.”  

That bonding and creative give and take translated into the making and shaping of this film. The shooting of the film started in 1979.  It was shot at Jagraon in Ludhiana district and at Baldev Gill’s ancestral village nearby. Patiala was the base.

Chitrarth Singh and others would hold the memories very dear. “There were a lot of friends.  A lot of theatre people got involved with this film project as their own. It was akin to a mission. What co-operation the people showed!  A worthwhile and good work is a collaborative thing. Each person associated with this film contributed his and her own bit. Patiala was the base. We stayed at Deepak’s father’s Chicks Hotel. On Sangrur road there is a pind Hardipura. There is a haveli there belonging to the relatives of the Maharaja of Patiala. That was one area we shot in and then at Jagraon and in the villages.”  

Ravindra Peepat took the story of the making further. “After 30 days of shoot they returned back to Bombay. The climax was yet to be shot. It was in my head. Then I made another schedule of 12 days and I went and supervised myself. I could have given my name as director of the film also. But no. I said let him (Chitrarth) get the credit. It is okay.”

The cinematography of the film was by Manmohan Singh who would in later years carve a very successful career as cinematographer and director. From today’s gaze the cameraman’s film roll-call boasts of such noted and successful Hindi films as Betaab, Waaris and a line of Yash Chopra productions like Chandni, Lamhe, Darr, Dilwale Dulhainiya Le Jayenge, Dil To Pagal Hai and Mohabbatein. He has directed many Punjabi films and also produced them.

Ravindra Peepat recalled that in Chann Pardesi, Manmohan Singh had also sung songs. The shooting was done start to finish. “At that time the cost and budget of this film was much more than that of an average Punjabi film. Around 15 lakh. Whereas an average Punjabi film would then be made in 5 lakhs. The film was shot on 35 mm. It was the first (Punjabi) film to have an original background music recorded. Music director was Surinder Kohli but the background music was done by Uttam Singh.”

I had particularly liked Om’s act which had an edge of comic-villainy. Director Chitrarth Singh corroborated, “One of the most successful performances in that film was Om’s. The other performance which was very much appreciated was Rama Vij. It was a very inspired performance. Before or after this she did not get a role of this stature. The film itself got a cult status.”

Yograj Sedha gushed that Om Puri was the first choice for his role. “For Tulsi’s role we had from the very start kept him in mind. It is memorable. Till now people have not forgotten it. His takiya kalam, the famous dialogues people would recite - Phatar ho ja teri khatir.”

The film back then had a very good run at the box-office and garnered a lot of film industry plaudits and appreciation. Deepak Seth particularly mentioned how impressed Raj Kapoor was with the film. “Raj Saheb saw the film at RK Studio.”

Yograj Sedha elaborated to give a detailed account. “That trial has a story of its own. Ravindra Peepat was Raj Kapoor’s assistant already. So, he (Raj Kapoor) said that he wanted to watch the film. Hawa bann gayi thi. There was a buzz around the film. One day, Ravindra Peepat called me and said that Raj Sahib wants to watch the film. I was at Bombay Lab in town. Ravindra Peepat asked me to deliver the print in half an hour. Raj Saheb was waiting. It took me an hour and a half to reach with the print at RK. All this while Raj Saheb was sitting below the stairs. He was smoking. I straight went and touched his feet.  He remarked, “Itni bari film aapne bana di. Mere ko wait toh karaoge hi (You have made such a big film. Obviously you will make me wait).”  

Ravindra Peepat seized the talk. “Let me recount to you Raj Kapoor Sahib’s reaction during the interval of the film. He was shell shocked.” According to him, Raj Kapoor had said, “Yaar, aise bhi banti hain pictures? Ye toh kamaal ho gaya. Now what will you do post interval? So much has already happened. It is just the interval. How will you now balance the remaining one hour and fifteen minutes of the film that are left post interval?”

Ravindra Peepat said that he told Raj Kapoor, “Rajji the second half is better than the first half.”

And when Raj Kapoor saw the second half he stood up and clapped. Ravindra Peepat recalled the showman’s words. “Maine toh aisi film nahi dekhi bahut dinno se - I have not seen such a film for a long while. What this girl (Rama Vij) has done is wonders. She is like Mother India! She is fantastic!”

Yograj Sedha, who had stored up excitement of that trial show, recalls. “After watching the film, the appreciation he showered on the film! He hugged me and exclaimed - What have you’ll made! How did you’ll think of this film?”

According to Ravindra Peepat it was Raj Kapoor who suggested speaking to Vakil Singh for this film’s release and business in Punjab. Vakil Singh was the biggest distributor in Punjab at that time. Vakil Singh however turned down the offer saying, “Nahi nahi,  main toh barri barri filmein karta hoon - I only take up big films. Ye toh Punjabi picture hai main nahi karoonga.” Raj Kapoor then told the team of Chann Pardesi as Ravindra Peepat recalled to me, “Ye choti picture hai kya? This is what a big film is like. Anyway this film is not his destiny.”

The team then got another distributor and in partnership released the film. The film got the national award and had a silver jubilee run in Punjab. While it did not get an all-India release, it did release in Delhi. This landmark Punjabi film also made its mark with the NRI audience in Canada and America. It struck an emotional connect with them.

Ravindra Peepat rightly assessed, “The film has ageless emotions.”

Deepak Seth would in his throwback assessment confess, “Though I feel that despite the success, the looser was Chitrarth. Once the film became hot so many people jumped to take the credit. The one who ought to have got most credit did not. He was then an outsider to the Punjabi group. Chitrarth was not in our inner circle. But after that we became more friendly. Chitrarth is very dear to me now.”

As for the profit in business Deepak Seth informed that the producers were not businessmen. “So even though the film ran well they could not get the profit in their hands. The distributors ate it up. But the film got the national award as best feature film in Punjabi.”

Yograj Sedha informed that the film got released in the theatre in 1981. At Delhi’s Eros Cinema, it set a record. Prior to this a Punjabi film would at best get the best music award, cinematography award but Chann Pardesi got the Best Picture award in regional language.

Chitrarth Singh corroborated, “It is the first Punjabi feature film that won a national award. Thereafter the chain began. Many other Punjabi films got awarded. At that time people would tell me that this Punjabi film looks like a Hindi film. We at the film institute would not think on the lines of Punjabi/Hindi films. We learnt how to make a film. The language could be Hindi or Punjabi. That is incidental. The language is of cinema. When I made the film Udham Singh, then the reaction was - Yaar, this looks like an English film. Point is if the subject has a spread, expanse then automatically every aspect will get an expanse. If  one is shooting in England obviously the visual and taking will change.”

Ravindra Peepat shared the great reactions that the screening of the film elicited from the industry insiders. Actor Dharmendra watched the film. Ravindra Peepat specially recalled the thespian actor’s remark on Om Puri’s act. He said, “Yaar everyone has done a good job with acting, be it Kulbhushan, Amrish, Rama. But this (Om Puri), one had no expectation from. Look at the way he sits on the ground. Look at the way he talks. He is so wonderful in the role. He is fantastic! He is comic and also cunning and calculating. I have become his fan. He is fantastic.”

Ravindra Peepat would in the present of our talk assess Om Puri’s role. “The fact is this role played by Om was not written like the author backed role of Kanhaiyalal in the film Mother India. But it emerged like that in our film. Amongst so many other characters in the film this role made such a dent that when after watching the film one is walking out, this character of Om’s stays in recall.”

I had asked if it was then easy to sell the film?

Ravindra Peepat had said, “It was not so easy to sell. The film had cost 12-14 lakhs. And, at that time such films were made in the budget of say 7-8 lakhs.” In those days of traditional and word of mouth publicity, bereft of today’s hyper multimedia penetration, Chann Pardesi, a Punjabi film, succeeded and how, in impressing not just the audience but also the Hindi film industry.

Yograj Sedha kept as a memorabilia a special letter of recommendation that Raj Kapoor wrote to the Punjab government. “I have that copy with me. It is such a nice letter. Out of the world. In it, he mentioned that these boys are young. Look after them. They can do a lot in the field of culture for the state. Raj Saheb saw the film three times.”

Once when actor Dharmendra was watching the film at a trial show, Raj Kapoor slipped in to again watch Chann Pardesi. Mrs Krishna Kapoor too watched the film. “Like this, nearly the whole industry saw the movie. Dharamji’s wife also saw it. We felt so inspired. We were not planning to be regular film makers,” Yograj Sedha’s proud recall would inform me.

The one flip side to the tale was that the film also got badly dubbed in Hindi as Sindoor Ki Keemat or Khoon Ki Keemat, in around 1997.

Director Chitrarth Singh would elaborate on it. “What happened was that the film had done very well. It had garnered a lot of appreciation. But there was an issue with its copyrights. A lot of people wanted its re-make rights, like A. Poornachandra Rao and Boney Kapoor. But they (the producers of Chann Pardesi), did not part with the rights. Then at one stage they sold the Hindi dubbing rights to someone. I don’t know exactly about it.”

The person who bought the dubbing rights of the Punjabi Chann Pardesi, is said to have  dubbed it in Hindi as Khoon ki Keemat and sold it to Zee. It sometimes gets aired on the channel. Director Chitrarth Singh rightly remarked, “But I believe that some films ought to be preserved just in their original, native language.”

That apart Chann Pardesi, the original one has found its place in the annals of Punjabi film history and has now got technically upgraded for a new viewership. Director Chitrarth Singh would acknowledge with gratitude, “We were lucky that our film commercially got a lot of appreciation. Its dramaturgy specially. Till today I feel that Mother India, even with its commercial success, is a very offbeat subject. Drama is correct.”

As was with Chann Pardesi, a near perfect amalgamation of all the parts that go into the making of a fine cinema. Drama correct hai!