New Delhi, Aug. 21 -- In Gurvinder Singh's Rehmat, a sparse post-Partition drama based in modern-day Punjab, a man desires homecoming. Many years back, his grandfather had built a house in Gujjarwal, a village in Ludhiana, but were forced to evacuate with family. Rashid Ali, old and fatigued with a life in England, has come back seeking the ancestral house. Evoking this pathos of displacement is Naseeruddin Shah, his second such role this year after a bravura turn in Imtiaz Ali's Main Vaapas Aaunga. For Singh, however, Rehmat marks a similar preoccupation.

Punjab has been central to the filmmaker's work. His feature films have been long-form dissections of the political turmoil it has been subjected to, the constant curiosity elevating t...