Gurvinder Singh

Gurvinder Singh was born in Delhi in a Sikh family. He is an Indian movie Director and has made mainly Punjabi cinemas. His Chauthi Koot and Anhe Ghore Da Daan are the most famous Punjabi films that made him a successful Director. Gurvinder was into painting, arts and Photography in his childhood. He studied film direction in Pune at the Film and Television Institute of India.

He graduated in 2001 when he felt a strong desire to work in Punjabi movies. He believes that Punjab has a rich heritage that needs exploration. He applied at the Indian Foundation for the Arts. With the grants, he documented oral narratives and folk ballads. In 2003, he released Pala, his first short film documentary. He traveled in the Malwa region in Punjab extensively from 2002-2006 to grasp more knowledge on Punjab. He got an insight into the various dimensions of Punjab. This wisdom helped his future as a Director. Gurvinder continued to make more documentaries on arts and artists. These include Passage, A Winter Tale, Legs Above my Feet, and a Malayalam-English documentary Kavalam.

Mani Kaul Mani Kaul undoubtedly was one of the greatest dire >> Read More... , a famous filmmaker, invited him in 2005 to the post of his teaching assistant at the FTII. Gurvinder gladly accepted, and while working with Mani, he developed a close association. They both translated and published Udayan Vajpeyi's book of conversations called Uncloven Space. Gurvinder soon decided to make his debut in Punjabi movies.

He had read Gurdial Singh's novel, based on which he made Anhe Ghore Ka Daan, in 2011. The title means Alms for a Blind Horse. The film deals with the life of lower caste people in Punjab, their distress, and angst. He worked with villagers and cast them as an integral part of the film. Melu's father, Mal Singh is portrayed a farmer working in a Thermal plant in Bhatinda. The film was shot in forty-five days but took a year to complete other formalities.

The film screened at various festivals including London, Munich, and premiered at the Venice Film Festival as well. It went on to win many awards as well as hearts. Gurvinder released his second feature film called Chauthi Koot in 2015. The title means The Fourth Direction. It is an Indo-French movie based on two different short stories by a Punjabi writer. The film is about Punjab's paranoia, fear, mistrust, and militant unrest back in the 1980s.

He conducted auditions rather than working with famous actors. Gurvinder did not believe in characterization. He worked with actors as well as non-actors. The movie premiered in 2015 at the famous Cannes Film Festival. It traveled to various International Festivals, including Singapore. It won the Golden Pix at Belgrade and the Golden Academy for the best Indian film in Mumbai. In 2015, it won the National Award for the best Punjabi film. The film will release on August 2016 in India and very soon in France. Gurvinder completed Awaazan, a travelogue film based on Amarjit Chauhan, a well-known Punjabi poet.

The film shows the poet's meetings with his comrades and old friends and finally John Berger in France. His film Ghuspaithia, meaning Infiltrator, will premiere in 2016. Gurvinder has directed videos as well, including Jasbir Jassi and Rabbi Shergill's Punjabi folk song named Jugni. He lives in Pune as he finds Mumbai a little noisy. He plans on moving to Himachal Pradesh after coming back from Cannes. He wishes to work on Painting in his house by the Tea valleys. He would then try to show his work in Mumbai or Delhi in 2017.