Wishful duo

Punjabi cinema is driven by audiences both in India and abroad.

Are the commercial prospects of Punjabi language cinema improving? Sure looks like it "" provided the budget is reasonably low and the global diaspora market receptive. A test case is Mannat, a Rs 2.75-crore film directed by Gurbir Singh Grewal and produced by BAG Films.

The real life story of an army officer during militancy in Punjab, the film stars Jimmy Shergill and Kulraj Randhawa.

According to Grewal, the big reason that BAG's managing director Anuradha Prasad is hopeful of making money on the venture is its potential appeal to sizeable audiences overseas.

But attracting that audience also means using high-end technology to get the desired level of slickness, and this necessitates corporate funding.

If this has been less than forthcoming in the past, a big reason (apart from the small domestic market) was rampant piracy. This could change once legislation is brought in (due in Punjab soon) to make piracy a non-bailable offence.

Mannat is slated for release across India and the UK, US and Canada "" with 25 prints for India and 15 overseas "" simultaneously on October 6.

If the Grewal-Prasad duo has a reason to be optimistic, it is the effect the film's soundtrack (music director: Jai Dev Kumar) could have on the film's fortunes, especially on the global circuit.

After all, Punjabi music has become quite a borderless phenomenon in recent years, and artistes like Gurdas Mann and Harbajan Mann have blended cinema with musical appeal very successfully for wide audiences, even as the likes of Sukhbir draw the gaze of folk both here and there.