Honey Trehan, who is making a biopic on poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi, says his film will be a gift from ‘one Shiv fan to all Shiv fans’

Nonika Singh

“I love everything about Punjab,” says noted filmmaker Honey Trehan. For someone who has grown up on the literary might of Kartar Singh Dugal, Sardar Panchhi, Shiv Kumar Batalvi and iconic singers like Gurdas Maan and Amar Singh Chamkila, Trehan swears by the rich content Punjab has to offer to the world. Quintessential storyteller, who thrills to telling stories with refreshing takes on life and history, he quips, “The cherry on the cake is when the story is from Punjab.” Take his latest film project on Kargil war veteran Major (retd) DP Singh, who learnt to transcend disability and became India’s first blade-runner.

As the project is part of the Cinevesture International Film Festival market, he shares what makes a good biopic and why certain global subjects like DP Singh’s need to be pitched at international festivals like CIFF. He also lets us into his film on the Bard of Punjab, legendary poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi. If his film on Batalvi, still at the writing stage, will bring out many ‘real sachaai’ of the man whose poetry has enthralled generations, the story on Major DP Singh is no less inspirational.

Director of Punjab 95 and Raat Akeli Hai, Trehan professes, “With every new story, every filmmaker is a first time maker for that particular story. There isn’t a person, howsoever, acclaimed who isn’t nervous before he starts a new project. We all go on the sets of a new film as if we know nothing and the dilemma starts from simple things like where to put the camera.”

However, make no mistake, mentored by celebrated filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj, Trehan is as professional as it gets. If for his ‘true guru’ he has worked in many capacities (from associate director to creative producer), Trehan has a huge body of work as a producer himself. The film on DP Singh, he assures, will not be a regular template of chronological events. If the story of Jaswant Singh Khalra (Punjab 95), had been on his mind since school days, for the film on DP Singh he spoke to the brave soldier for nearly 14 hours for four days at a stretch, cocooned in hotel in Chandigarh, not even stepping out for a minute.

He observes, “A biopic is not just four or six highpoints of a person’s life. What is important to me is the character arc, the journey which made him who he is.”

For Batalvi’s biopic, well, he has been in touch with his family ever since he took the rights of the song Ikk Kudi for Udta Punjab from Meharban Batalvi, Batalvi’s son. But when the family comes on board, isn’t there a danger of undue interference and the film turning out to be more of a hagiography? Trehan begs to differ and shares, “Aruna auntie (Batalvi’s wife) is such a mature person with profound thoughts. All the family wants is there should be no exploitation or manipulation of his name. Today’s generation should know what all he wrote.”

Incidentally, Trehan can’t recall when it was that, he fell in love with Batalvi’s poetic genius. Today, as he is etching him out, we wonder if he has an actor in mind. He says, “As I am writing the film, I only have Shiv’s image in mind.”

Could it be Diljit Dosanjh again, his actor of Punjab 95, he won’t commit either way. On his directorial signature that brings to life the martyrdom of Jaswant Singh Khalra, a Sikh activist who stood up against extra-judicial killing of Sikhs, he has much to say and observe.

As the release date of Punjab 95 is postponed time and again, he says, “It’s not a propaganda film, hence it troubles the system.” What irks him is how the CBFC, “a puppet and government’s backdoor entry into cinema” is demanding unnecessary cuts and extraneous pressure is being put on the producers to toe the line.

Beyond making a statement, he does admit film is business too. Each time he and his production partner at MacGuffin Pictures, the acclaimed director Abhishek Chaubey, set out to make a film, Trehan ensures his financial backers at least recover their money. Interestingly, they turned producers to safeguard their films. He laughs, “So, we are not forced to put songs in the end credits.”

On the recent trend of clutch of producers coming together for the same film, he reasons, “For our different projects we have different partnerships. Like for Killer Soup and Raat Akeli Hai, it was Netflix, for Punjab 95 it had to be Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP and for Sharmaji Namkeen Excel was a natural ally.” Interestingly, he managed to convince Ronnie who claimed to not even know the M of Malayalam to back the Malayalam film Ullozhukku. The film has since been winning plaudits. Any wonder his advice to Punjabi filmmakers is, “Go for it, with your belief. Turn the tables.”

He himself is racing to complete the sequel to the Netflix film Raat Akeli Hai. One on Batalvi too will be out soon, if not too soon. “I have put it out in the universe.” Yet another promise he makes is how it will be a gift from “one Shiv fan to all Shiv fans.”