Nonika Singh

Beyond religious divides, cross-border love is not new to Hindi or Punjabi cinema. Back in 1999, the National Award-winning Shaheed-e-Mohabbat Boota Singh was set in the backdrop of the Partition. So, can the controversy of Shahkot being pro-Pakistan — which also follows a theme similar to Shaheed-e-Mohabbat Boota Singh — be put to rest? However, haters will be haters, and the detractors who whipped up a storm before Shahkot’s release might continue to spew venom. Only as popular singer Guru Randhawa makes his acting debut in Pollywood, his launch vehicle steadfastly refrains from hatemongering or demonising Pakistan and Pakistanis. The period the film refers to is uncertain — mobile phones are not yet in vogue, and the relationship between India and Pakistan is not hunky-dory. But, for this detail, the timeline does seem contemporary, yet quite in sync with the milieu of Pakistan it cares to depict. Director of Photography Vineet Malhotra, rises to the occasion and captures the time aesthetically.

Watching a Punjabi film, let alone reviewing it, even for a diehard Punjabi, comes with its own set of misgivings. Sadly enough, as we sit through Sucha Soorma — touted as famous singer-actor Babbu Maan’s comeback film after a gap of four years — doubts turn into a deep, gnawing realisation about said misgivings and a discomfiting feeling. It’s near impossible to rationalise why we are making such films in this day and age, which do not reflect upon the changing matrix of our society; or if they do, god help us. Undoubtedly, this Amitoj Maan directorial is a period film set sometime during the British rule in India, in the early 20th century, even though the only date definitively stated in the film is the year in which the hero, Sucha Soorma (Babbu Maan), was hanged. The very first scene deludes you to believe that here, perhaps, was a warrior who stood up for the downtrodden.