NANAK NAAM JAHAAZ HAI – A film that changed Punjabi Cinema

Celebrating the 50 Years of magnum opus..

There were two major episodes in the History of Punjab that required struggle and martyrdom from its people. One was the fight to safeguard the religion, Sikhism and the other was the struggle for independence from the British. Punjabi Cinema avoided having a direct dialogue with the theme of partition and instead stressed on the motifs of pain and loss in the films. Besides the theme of trauma, caused by the bifurcation of the state, which Punjabi films were ignorant about, the cinema sought for another subject that consolidated the region, that is the religion, Sikhism.

Punjab is one state that did not get formed on the base of its language. It was the religion that played the crucial role in the formation of the state, Punjab in the year 1966. Interestingly, the wave of religious films embarked on after this occurrence. There was a sudden orientation towards religious films as the key identification.

Film that launched thousand religious films

In 1969 came Punjabi Cinema’s first colored film, Naanak Naam Jahaz Hai directed by Ram Maheshwari starring Prithvi Raj Kapoor, Veena and Nishi Kohli (one of the leading Punjabi film actresses). The film was released as the celebration of the 500^th birth anniversary of the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Dev. As the credits of the film rolled, a voice – over narrated the miracles and supernatural feats of the Sikh Gurus and the Guru Granth Saahib and the prominence that Harminder Sahib and Amritsar (regarded as the holiest place of the Sikhs) hold for Sikhs, against the backdrop of clippings of Gurupurav and various Gurudwaras. Before the beginning of the film, the viewers are briefed about all of the Sikh Gurus and the Guru Granth Saahib, that is also prominent in the very first shot of the film. The film, said to be based on the true events, or, “qisse”. Naanak Naam Jahaaz hai, set in Amritsar, Punjab, revolved around a god fearing, noble and selfless man, Gurmukh Singh (played by Prithvi Raj Kapoor) and his family, his wife and his dharam – brother, Prem Singh. The blissful atmosphere of the family is short lived as Prem Singh gets affianced to Ratan Kaur (played by Nishi Kohli) who moves in to Gurmukh Singh’s family with her disingenuous and irreligious brother, Shukha. Soon after Prem’s marriage with Ratan, the happy family gets divided in to two, a series of tragic events followed. Gurmukh Singh’s only son, Gurmeet Singh (played by Som Dutt) loses his vision because of Ratan Kaur’s animosity. The mishap, stirs up Ratan’s sense of morality who now strives for redemption. Gurmeet Singh, betrothed to Charandeep Kaur ‘Chhani’ (played by Vimmi) before his accident, breaks up the engagement fearing that he might be a burden on the young Chhani. Gurmeet, just like his father, Gurmukh Singh, is a god – fearing noble soul who instead of getting angry with his aunt, wants to go on a holy expedition with his aunt, Ratan. Oblivion to Gurmeet, they are accompanied by Chhani in the guise of a servant. As the journey terminates, the two force their aunt to get them married. Post their marriage, Chhani refrains from eating and dedicates herself completely to praying and worshipping for the sake of her husband and his lost vision. At the end, Gurmeet gains his vision in Harminder Sahib while praying whereas, Shukha, the manipulative uncle of Gurmeet loses his eyesight and instantly turns into a religious person.

Along with the melodrama, the film has multifarious doubling of various attributes, be it the doubling of tradition and modernity, religiousness and atheism, selflessness and selfishness and the rudimentary doubling of the good and bad. The film puts on show the two unreservedly contrasting human characteristics. And most importantly, the contradistinction between the virtuousness and the wickedness in the characters is based on their religious beliefs. Gurmukh Singh, his wife, his son and daughter–in–law, who are god fearing and put every incident under the appellation of god’s will are seen in a positive light, whereas Ratan Kaur and Shukha, responsible for the catastrophe in Gurmukh Singh’s idyllic family, are portrayed as non–theists, ‘modern’ youth who give priority to movies and fashion over praying and going to Gurudwaras. The film finds a resonance to John Milton’s Paradise Lost based on the biblical account on the fall of Adam and Eve where the paradisiacal world of Gurmukh comes crashing down upon the entry of the serpentine Ratan and Shukha. Prithvi Raj Kapoor’s appearance in the film, a plump man in his mid-fifties with grey-white beard, always donning yellowish-mustard attire, has been conscientiously collocated with the image of the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Dev (see image 1.1 and 1.2). It is also important to note that he is named Gurmukh, which means both – one with the god-like face and a great devotee of the guru, God; also, he is continuously projected in the reflection of the guru. Also, his son, the other benevolent and selfless hero of the film is named Gurmeet, meaning – the ally of the guru whereas the villain is named Shukha, which does not have a significant meaning.

Nanak Naam Jahaz Hai also represents the theme of partition through allegorical sequences. Both, Gurmukh and Prem Singh did not want the severance of the family to take place. On the contrary, the ‘outsiders’ were the ones who forced the bifurcation of the family and both the brothers were not left with any option, but to conform to the decision of the ‘authorities’. The episode finds the reverberation with the psyche of the maximum population of the British Punjab, both Hindus and Muslims who were forced to segregate by the people in charge, and the common men who were living together amiably, with harmony, the ones who had no qualms with each other were made to stand opposite one another.

Nanak Naam Jahaz Hai also holds a crucial position because this was one film that was reflexively negotiating with its dualistic consciousness of maintaining continuities and constructing a change, a change that followed up in the form of the religious films. The film used the popular themes, motifs, modes of cinematic practises, while simultaneously fashioning a discourse of Punjabi distinctiveness. Besides the key identity markers, like, language, festivities or the local state of affairs that concerned the geographical region, Punjabi cinema now got another, crucial identity marker in the form of the religion. After this film, Punjabi cinema now started comprising of themes of devotion and religion with a turban wearing hero and an out an out devout heroine. However, it would be imprecise to posit that the theme of devotion was the only genre prevalent in these religion based films. The films were, as a matter of fact, amalgamation of the available genre forms, or ‘bricolage’ (Prasad, 2011, page: 71) that were in conversation with the political and cultural milieu.

Naanak Naam Jahaz Hai pioneered the genre of religious films in Punjabi Cinema and after the release and the box office success of the film, Punjabi Cinema saw innumerable releases of similar films. One could perceive that in–your–face sort of preaching that the film foregrounds, is intentional as well as a calculative execution targeting the people, especially the youth keeping away with the religion. After this film, Punjabi Cinema saw a torrent of films based on religion that revolved around the theme of devotion and miracles, especially in Sikhism, such as Nanak Dukhiya Sab Sansaar (“God, The World is Miserable”, Director: Dara Singh, 1970), Man Jeete Jag Jeet (“Win the heart, win the world”, Director: B. S. Thapa, 1973), Sacha Mera Roop Hai (“I am the truest form”, Director: B. S. Shaad, 1974), Dukh Bhanjan Tera Naam (“God’s name destroys evil”, Director: B. S. Thapa, 1974), Main Papi Tum Bakshanhar (“I am a sinner and god is forgiver”, Director: Subhash C. Bhakhri, 1976) and Sawa Lakh Se Ek Ladaun (“One against the fourteen million”, Director: Dara Singh, 1976).

Finding solace and strength in Gursikhi

Religion provided solace to the characters in the films at the time of distress and it was projected as the only alternative to seek a ray of hope. The demarcation between the principal hero and their adversaries too was marked upon by the religious sentiments they adhered by. For example, in the film, Nanak Naam Jahaz Hai, in the introductory scenes of almost all of the characters, their point of view on religion was put on display and hence evincing the sanguineness or the iniquity of the characters. Thus, Gurmukh Singh in his initial scenes was shown in the Gurudwara along with his wife and his brother, Prem Singh, while Rattan Kaur was introduced as dancing on a song and her brother while ranting against god and the scriptures.

Hindi films were also concerned with the theme of devotion and religion, especially during 1940s-60s. There is a stark incongruity between Hindi and Punjabi films in the portrayal of the priest or priest like figure. In Hindi cinema, a dependent and vulnerable woman coming for shelter to a temple would often be afflicted by troubles or harassment conferred on by the upper class Brahmanical figure or the temple priest. Punjabi cinema, however, projected the Sikh priests as god-like figures. The films incessantly stressed on the fact that the one who accepts the gyan, becomes a gursikh and follows the path of the gurmat can never go wrong in his life, the mere utterance of the name of the sikh gurus or the hymns of the holy book, gurbani can transform even an evil into a saint. Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee has forbidden the film makers and the actors to make films on the Sikh guru or represent a sikh guru in a human form, enacted by any actor. Therefore, the gyanis or the paathis of the gurudwara secure the holiest position in the arena, and hence, the Sikh priests are projected as god-like saintly figures who guide and preach their congregations. The practice of seeking guidance in the Gurudwara continues to happen in the films even now.

In religion, Punjabi cinema seemed to have received a sense of uniformity among themselves, a sense of shared religious history. Religion and love legends, like Heer Ranjha and Mirza Sahiban, were two of the representative facets of the region that drew a deviation between Punjabi Cinema and the other regional cinema and gave the regional Punjabi Cinema its peculiar identification.

Religious films worked in multiple layers. One, religion was used for providing a moralistic foundation to films, addressing the spectators, here, Punjabi audience. Second, these films made use of the shared history as a source for the consolidation that defied Punjabi cinema from the rest of the regional or the Hindi cinema. It is necessary to pay attention to the time and the socio-environment when these films were being made. Two decades had passed since the harrowing episode of the partition, the people were living with the scars of the cataclysmic truncation and in the memories of those who were lost in the convulsion. The incongruous environment was further being wrecked with the constant fear of bandits and dacoits, and the youth in despair was turning towards the activities that were considered to be offensive, like, alcohol, gambling and robbery. The religious films worked on the moralistic foundation and provided the Punjabi cinema with a newly found identity.