With premiere held at Venice Film Festival, it was also shown at BFI London Film Festival, Busan International Film Festival, and Abu Dhabi Film Festival. It won the distinction of being the first Punjabi film to travel to international film festivals. The film bagged National Awards for Best Direction, Cinematography, and Best Feature Film in Punjabi. Based on a novel by Gurdial Singh published in 1976, the film projects the plight of the rural community comprising farmers and landlords in Punjab. Anhey Ghorey Da Daan changed the mindset of film enthusiasts in 2011.

While the two states share much in common in terms of suffering and the aftermath of partition, Punjab lagged in terms of exposure to world cinema and multifarious cultural influences. Although the genre of art cinema has not fully bloomed yet, hope flickers with the arrival of award-winning directors such as Gurvinder Singh and Anup Singh who tell stories the way they want to.Ī decade ago, it was impossible to think of the kind of cinema we expect from Bengal getting produced in Punjab. Of immense surprise and delight is the birth of cinema that focuses purely on the art form – without any pretensions of performing a balancing act between art and commercial.

With Punjabi Cinema finally outgrowing the obsession with Balle-Balle and Bhangra, offbeat cinema is fast making inroads with a bountiful crop of middle cinema that mixes realism and entertainment well.

Hindi punjabi movies 2012