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A MOVING Punjabi family-film, written and directed by Bahrain resident Preety Praveen, has been shot in the kingdom and is set to be screened at one of the island’s theatres in the near future.
The one-hour movie, entitled Bas Ik Vaari, revolves around a father and a daughter struggling to reconnect after complicated circumstances and misunderstandings create a rift between them.
“Where the daughter tries to bridge the gap, the father shows a cold shoulder to her efforts,” said Indian expatriate Preety, a psychologist and passionate writer from Mahooz who moved to Bahrain in 2009. “Will they be able to see through the dark fog of delusional misunderstandings and reunite as a happy family?
“Bas Ik Vaari is a Punjabi word which means ‘at least once’ and as the name states, we all deserve a chance to speak and vent out feelings at the right time and in front of the right people.”
Preety had written the story a couple of years back and after the pandemic she revisited her tale and decided to put it on the big screen.
“The shooting was finished in just two weeks,” she added. “But as they say, the real work starts after the shooting finishes.
“My whole team had been working dedicatedly to finish the project for more than nine months. Everybody involved in this project took the tasks on out of passion. They have tried their best to give their time along with their other commitments.
“The idea of writing, shooting, technical work, cast and crew, everything has been conceived and conceptualised in Bahrain. We are hoping that our audience would feel connected with the story, acknowledge our hard work and take a beautiful message from our movie.”
The associate producers are GoAlive and the main cast involves Gursahej Kaur, Praveen Nambiar, Anagha Kulkarni Parkhi, Asar Ziya, Jagdeep Pal Singh, Kathu Sachindev, Sandeep C Menon and Amina Syed. The director of photography is Sachan Chandran and editing is done by Priya Lal Achary.
The lyricists are Preety Praveen and Karthick Raj and the music has been composed by Shibin P Sidiq and Ishpreet Kaur Virdi. The background music is also provided by Shibin and Dreams Digital Media Bahrain and the singers include Ishpreet Kaur Virdi, Ashna Varghese and Sobin C Jose.
“We made this movie from our hearts and are hoping that we would be able to touch the emotional chords of our audience as well,” said Preety.
This isn’t her first movie experience as she has written and directed an hour-long play called Aashiyana Mera, which was screened at the GOPIO event in Bahrain. Onam in Oman was another hour-long comedy play that was showcased at various labour camps.
Movies called Hesitancy and Lakeerein are also shorts that she made for social causes. Preety has also written a novel called Cross Connection and it was published in 2019 in Bengaluru, India.
“In Bahrain Media City, I’ve created and presented two shows – an entertainment show titled Rangla Punjab and an educational show called Children’s Hour,” she said. “I’ve worked with BMC Film production in an upcoming Malayalam movie entitled Ankke Enthinte Keda, which is all set to get released. However, Bas Ik Vaari is the biggest project I’ve done till date.”
Aside from her creative endeavours, she is associated with the Indian Community Relief Fund (ICRF), the Pravasi Legal Cell (PLC) and the Indian Ladies Association (ILA).
“I’ve given my counselling services to many in need and would love to be a helping hand for anyone who is going through a rough patch in their life,” she explained.
The release date of the film will be announced soon and she also has other projects lined up such as her very own podcast called Be Candid With Preety and a YouTube series.
