Remembering Chann Pardesi

The garrulous Amrish Puri rode mightily on his horse chaperoned by a wily Om Puri, his Muneem, while Kulbhushan Kharbanda watched from the sidelines. A new star in the shape of Raj Babbar was born and Rama Vij tattooed her name on our collective hearts by her performance.

When these doyens, freshly chiselled the film institutes put in their collective hard work and labour to create a film that would go down in the annals of Punjabi film industry, as being one of the best ever and winning a national award being the cherry on the cake.

The film Chann Pardesi had more than one reason to be appreciated by film-goers and critics alike. The film won India’s National Film Award in 1980 and went on to become a big commercial success in 1981 while the shooting of the movie had started in 1979.
One of the producers of the film JS Cheema recently remarked in an interview, “We had not envisaged at that point of time that it would become a multi-starcast film. I vividly remember that Raj Babbar faced the camera for the very first time while shooting for Chann Pardesi. The scene in which he falls off a bicycle was his first shot ever. The film’s second schedule was delayed by 9 to 10 months due to certain issues, but in the meantime Raj Babbar’s Insaaf ka Taraazu got released and he became a big star.

Secondly, during the same period Kulbhushan Kharbanda’s Shaan also released where he was the main villain and his work was also appreciated. We were novices in the field of cinema at that point of time, but due to team work and blessings of the Almighty, the film came out to be really good and was appreciated all over.”The movie eventually became a milestone in Punjabi cinema history and in the year 2019, it was announced at the Chandigarh Literary Society’s Literati Literature Festival, that it would be digitally remastered, coloured and released again in 2020. Its revamped poster was also released in the presence of many members of the cast and crew.

But the Covid situation brought everything to a halt and eager film goers are still awaiting the re-release of the iconic Chann Pardesi with bated breath.