1969 Nawanshahr, India

Surjit Kaur
1942
Nawanshahr, Punjab, India
Interviewed on February 13, 2022
by Jasmin Gill

(Translated from Punjabi)

Nanak Naam Jahaz Hai. That was the first movie we went to go see a long time ago. I don’t remember the exact year, but I was married then, though I don’t know if your oldest uncle was born yet. This was in Nawanshahr in India, and I think the theater’s name was the Sutlej Palace. It was a very good experience for me overall. The movie itself was very good and had a very valuable message. We did not eat any food there; we just watched the movie. It was me, my older sister, and my younger brother Major going to the movie. I knew more about the movie then, but what I remember now is that the man went blind because of an accident where glass went into his eye and his parents kept taking him from place to place to find a cure. You could probably find that online. The family truly believed in Waheguru (the name for God in Sikhism) and Guru Nanak, and so they went and prayed and did community service (seva) at every gurdwara (Sikh temple). At the end, the man regains his eyesight when he goes to Harmandir Sahib (the Golden Temple). I believe it was based on a true story that the writer had heard at Harmandir Sahib.

For this movie, we were sitting in the middle; there were people below us and above us. The very rich people would sit at the top in the balconies, but we were just in the middle with cheap tickets. Back then those tickets were only 1-2 rupees. It was a good position to watch the movie though. It was lovely to watch, many times better than the movies today. The story and everything about the movie was excellent. By now the actors for the parents are probably dead, but they were great actors with charisma and influence in the movie.

There were no concession stands inside the theater, but people were wandering around with stuff like popcorn, water, and soda from outside, although in those days, there was not that much soda either. There were small shops for food outside the theater, but only one restaurant in all of Nawanshahr that was far from everywhere else. Our family didn’t buy or eat anything inside though, as we had eaten at home and then came back and ate at home after the movie.

We got to the theater by walking to the bus station and then taking the bus because in those days there were not many cars. Inside the theater, there were no ushers who took us to our seats, but my little brother who was educated found them for us. He was also the one who bought the tickets, because my sister and I had never even been to the cinema, so we didn’t know how to buy tickets. I heard about the movie from others who told me it was very good. At that time, everyone around us went to go watch this movie and liked it a lot too. There were very few people in the village that had not seen this movie. A lot of people went, so we went too. The movie ran in theaters for a long time too, that’s how many people went to watch it. I’m sure it received a lot of awards that year.

After I watched the film, I did want to see more movies, but I didn’t get to go again after that for a long time. In those days, they didn’t really let us girls go out at all. I don’t know how my brother got our families and husbands to agree to let us go with him, but he convinced them somehow. I guess that was a testament to how good the film was, and the fact that it was an appropriate movie with a moral lesson. I think that’s how he convinced them. Even your mom and aunts were not really allowed to go to the theater either. Mostly it was just men going on their scooters with their friends.

Since then, I have been able to go see a lot more movies in theaters. Another movie that was very popular about ten years ago, of which I don’t remember the name, I went and watched three times in the Nawanshahr cinema. Even now, I go watch new Punjabi movies in American movie theaters with my children.