3 weeks ago
Gurvinder Singh's Rehmat: Naseeruddin Shah's Migration Tale at Locarno
A filmmaker named Gurvinder Singh made a new movie called Rehmat.
It is in the Punjabi language.
The movie stars a famous actor named Naseeruddin Shah.
He plays an old man named Rashid who returns to the village where he was born many years after leaving.
Long ago, many families had to leave their homes and move somewhere new.
This is called migration, and sometimes people were forced to go while other times they chose to go.
The movie shows different kinds of migration from the past 100 years of Punjab's history.
It is being shown at a big international film festival in Locarno.
The movie is based on stories by a writer named Ajeet Cour.
Another film with Naseeruddin Shah, called Main Vaapas Aaunga, is now on Netflix.
Gurvinder Singh's Punjabi-language film Rehmat is part of the Locarno Film Festival's International Competition section.
Naseeruddin Shah plays Rashid, a man born in a village on the Indian side of Punjab who returns to his ancestral home years later.
Rehmat is based on stories by writer Ajeet Cour and was co-produced by her daughter, artist Arpana Caur.
The film explores different kinds of migration: the forced migration of 1947, the forced migration of the 1980s, and the voluntary migration of Sikhs to the West.
Naseeruddin Shah also stars in Imtiaz Ali's Main Vaapas Aaunga, now streaming on Netflix after its theatrical run.
- Who
- Director Gurvinder Singh, lead actor Naseeruddin Shah, and writer Ajeet Cour, whose stories the film is based on.
- What
- The Punjabi-language film Rehmat, which depicts different kinds of migration over the last 100 years of Punjab's history.
- Where
- At the Locarno Film Festival's International Competition; the film is set in Punjab, India.
- When
- The film is presented in 2026 at the Locarno Film Festival.
- Why
- To explore forced and voluntary migrations that have shaped Punjab, from the 1947 Partition to the present day.
Key facts
- Director
- Gurvinder Singh
- Lead actor
- Naseeruddin Shah
- Language
- Punjabi
- Festival
- Locarno Film Festival, International Competition
- Based on
- Stories by Ajeet Cour
- Co-producer
- Arpana Caur
- Cinematographer
- Shashank Walia
- Director's debut
- Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan (2011)
Quotes
Gurvinder Singh
Punjabi filmmaker and director of Rehmat
“"The entire film has to work on evocation, otherwise it won’t work."”
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“"The film is about different migrations, forced or voluntary."”
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Sources
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