India, Nov. 2 -- The journey of a filmmaker, who was to change the soul of Punjabi cinema, began with his first short film 'Pala', a documentary made on a folk singer of Punjab, who sang the lost tales of the land of the five rivers. The endeavour was sponsored by the India Foundation of the Arts (IFA) Bangalore and the proposal that Gurvinder had put forward, born and brought up in Delhi and alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and a chosen student of the famous director Mani Kaul, was his way of reconnecting with his roots in Punjab whose parents had migrated from West Punjab at the time of Partition. Punjabi poet Amarjit Chandan asked to screen the 2003 film in the Chandigarh Press Club. Of course the Pala story, told well, touched the hearts of all viewers and one of my fond memories was that of a young man with a literary mind working in the IT sector cycling all the way from Mohali to Sector 27, Chandigarh, a long distance, to see the film. He was Jasdeep Singh, well versed in the Punjabi language, who was to make a bond with Gurvinder as a dialogue writer of the films that were to follow, based on the novels of one of the finest storytellers of the Punjabi language, Gurdial Singh of course. The filmmaker had seen the film based on the author's epic and path breaking novel 'Marhi da Deeva' (The Last Flicker) when a student in Pune. This was the first novel of 1960 that introduced a farm labourer Jagseer as the hero, as opposed to the earlier Jatt land owners as the tillers of the soil. Gurvinder recalls, "The film left an impact on me and I decided to explore the fiction of the writer further". The rest of course is history and the turning point of Punjabi cinema for he was to go onto make a film on the writer's novel 'Anhe Ghore da Daan (Alms for a Blind Horse) which brought forth the angst of the distressed lower caste of Punjab, ironically so in spite of the dominant Sikh religion, which had come up as a protest against prevailing caste prejudice. The ground reality rarely changes and it did not in spite of the teachings of the great Sikh Gurus. The rest of course is history and the turning point of Punjabi cinema for he was to go onto make a film on the writer's novel 'Anhe Ghore da Daan' (Alms for a Blind Horse) which brought forth the angst and distressed lower caste of Punjab. The film was premiered in 2011 at the Venice international festival to move to many other festivals besides being released at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. It won the 'Special Jury Award' at Abu Dhabi Film Festival, and the 'Golden Peacock' for Best Film at the International Film Festival of India, Goa, in 2012. It also won three national awards in India, including the 'Golden Lotus Award' (Swarna Kamal). Never mind the honours, the filmmaker continued his work at his own pace and his own way. The next two films were also based on novels of Gurdial Singh: 'Chauthi Koot' (The Fourth Direction) and 'Adh Chandni Raat' (Crescent Moon). After a recent delightful film in Pahari as he lived many years in Dharamsala, which one will come to another time, Gurvinder once again turns to his first love for Punjabi. The film he is making now is titled 'Rehmat' (Compassion) and it features the work of the finest woman storyteller that contemporary Punjabi literature witnessed, Ajeet Cour of course. It would not be amiss to say that she chiselled the art of the story writing with the same finesse that Amrita Pritam giftedto poetry. A recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Padma Shri, she faced the challenges that life put before many women of those times standing alone, proud and brave with many achievements to her credit. Born in 1934 in a Sikh family in Lahore where she had her early education and interestingly she was tutored in Punjabi by Kartar Singh Hitkari, father of Amrita Pritam. Post Partition, her family moved to Delhi where she went on to do her masters in economics. She was virtually a single parent to her daughters, famous painter Arpana Caur and Kendy Caur. Life was not easy but she fought fate with the courage of a warrior. She was indeed a woman standing alone like courage'. Now four of her stories are being woven into a film by Gurvinder as his latest venture. When one asks the filmmaker how this project took shape, Gurvinder says "It is heartwarming that her painter daughter, who is one of the leading painters of the country, has made the dream come true and it is a daughter's gift to her mother. The four stories that the filmmaker has picked out to put together for a story on screen include: Na Maro (Dead End), Akhan (Eyes), Chhutti (on vacation) and Ik Pair Ghat Turna (Will Walk A Step Less). The mood of the stories is one of deep compassion so the title chosen for the film is 'Rehmat'. The shooting of the film has started and what makes it very interesting is that stalwarts of cinema like Naseeruddin Shah and Mita Vashisht have willingly joined it. Interestingly this will be Shah's first Punjabi film in India although he did act in a Pakistani film titled 'Zinda Bhag' (Run for life) on illegal immigration made in both Urdu and Punjabi. Interestingly Shah spoke Lahori Punjabi in it! Gurvinder says"I called Naseerudin to inquire if he would act in the new film I was making. Having seen the earlier films so his reply was yes and he did not even want to know what the film was about. So it was with Mita Vashisht, who grew up in Chandigarh". And now one waits for the film bythe filmmaker whose home is now in New Chandigarh....