The Punjabi film industry has been going through a lacklustre period with the Punjab circuit not performing like before the pandemic for all films be it Punjabi, Hindi or English. There have been some green shoots with some films scoring as we came out of the pandemic and then Saunkan Saunkne (Punjabi) and KGF 2 but generally the collections are well short of the days before the pandemic.

The 1 crore nett mark for a Punjabi film with a decent cast was a given before the pandemic but post pandemic this has become a difficult task. This film Medal which was delayed by one day due to censor issues and released on Saturday has clocked up 80 lakhs nett with a hero who is a newcomer with just a couple of releases behind him. The top collections in East Punjab this year are Jodi with 95 lakhs but that was with the top star of industry Diljit Dosanjh and for this film Medal to be in the 80 lakh range is excellent.

The collections are superior to Jodi across most of the B and C centres across the circuit while less in the 4-5 biggest centres of the circuit. The film is being driven by the mass pockets. The collections are great news for the film industry as it gets ready to release two huge films in Maurh and Carry On Jatta 3.

The culture for clicks and views has meant emergence of reviews and critics for this film industry also which is bad news as none of these will have a clue. Furthermore the Punjabi film industry since that first big blockbuster Bhangra in the late 50's has always been driven by comedy and this involves making fun if you are fat, weird, black or gay and as this critical club grows it will be seen as regressiveness and will be called out. It is small industry and attempting to grow but the sort of content which gets footfalls does not need reviewers or critics offering their two penny views.

In the history of the Punjabi film industry there have been religious films that have done very well but outside this it has been the comedy genre and other genres that have worked have needed ample doses of comedy or even a comedy track running which has little relevance to the main story.  This has always been due to Punjabi film audience understanding Hindi well and watching those films leaving comedy as the USP of Punjabi cinema as these comedy dialogues can only be done in Punjabi to have an impact. The huge success of comedy in Punjabi films meant that comedy in Hindi films has generally been seen as flat by the Punjabi audiences thats why this genre has never got blockbuster numbers in Punjab except Naukar Biwi Ka (1983) but that was practically a semi Punjabi film.

Bottom line is that cinema in India does not need critics / reviewers as its a negative rather than positive for 99% of the movies which have a chance of getting an audience. For a regional industry like Punjabi where comedy is at the forefront the need is even less.