Lions of Punjab Presents
Last two years have seen a remarkable change in the way television entertainment has taken a different route. While the 'saas-bahu' sagas still run, 'reality shows' have started creating their own web. With every entertainment channel coming up with a talent hunt show, it was imperative that a film around this theme was also made soon.
LOINS OF PUNJAB PRESENTS is one such film.
As per producer-director Manish Acharya, he got the idea to make the film when he was sitting in a crowded coffee shop in New York with a close friend of his. He says, "While discussing the newfound Western interest in all things Bollywood, the idea for this film came to us -- a singing contest set in a small town in New Jersey. We laughed as we outlined possible characters, and I realized that I REALLY wanted to see this movie. Ironically, given my proximity to it, today I might be the only person incapable of really seeing THIS movie."
He adds, "The movie reflects my beliefs and my concerns. Issues of belonging, of defining "home," of self-image -- these are on the top of my mind. And the manifestation of these issues through a comedy, through songs, through characters that don't normally populate cinema screens, seems like the appropriate way to both include my concerns in my work and make them invisible. Perhaps most importantly, when I watch the film, the characters in the movie come alive for me. And just as I once breathed life into them, they now breathe life into me."
90 minutes in duration, LOINS OF PUNJAB PRESENTS is touted to be a riotous comedy about seven strangers whose lives collide during a singing contest in a small New Jersey town. These seven people are a ruthless philanthropist, a bhangra rapper, an over-protected prodigy, a reckless actress, a lovelorn businessman, an entrepreneurial yogi and last but not the least, a Loin King.
Said to be one of the first films to combine the musical vibrancy of a Bollywood film with a narrative rhythm that emerges from the West, LOINS OF PUNJAB PRESENTS is termed as 'Monsoon Wedding' meets Annie Hall, in a diner in Queens, for a masala omelette!
LOINS OF PUNJAB PRESENTS stars National Award winner and International star Shabana Azmi (Fire, Arth, City of Joy) along with Broadway & West End lead Ayesha Dharker (Bombay Dreams, Star Wars Episode II, The Terrorist) & American Indie favorite Ajay Naidu (Office Space, Suburbia, Bad Santa), in addition to various theatre and TV luminaries like Jameel Khan, Darshan Jariwala & Michael Raimondi.
Manish Acharya has the last word - "I do know that it wouldn't embarrass me to ask people to spend 90 minutes of their life to see it. It is entertaining, it rewards repeat viewings, and it stays with the viewer long after the movie is over. And that makes me happy."
Also starring Seema Rahmani, Ishita Sharma, Kunal Roy Kapoor along with Acharya himself, the film is releasing on 21st September.