10 July,2026 12:18 PM IST | Mumbai | Priyanka Sharma
Gurvinder Singh and A still from Rehmat (Pictures through special arrangement)
National Award-winning filmmaker Gurvinder Singh's upcoming Punjabi film, Rehmat, starring an ensemble led by Naseeruddin Shah, has been selected in the main competition (Concorso Internazionale) at the 79th Locarno Film Festival. Rehmat is the only Indian feature film selected for this year's edition of the coveted festival, which will be held from August 5-15 in Locarno, Switzerland.
Rehmat will compete for the festival's highest honour, Pardo d'Oro (Golden Leopard), carrying a cash prize of CHF 75,000 (over Rs 88 Lakhs). Set in present-day Punjab, the film is said to weave together three interconnected stories - a woman secretly shelters a wounded stranger insider her home, while his family grapples with grief and impossible choices. Elsewhere, a mysterious elderly man arrives in a village claiming to be God.
Rehmat has been adapted from the short stories by revered Punjabi writer Ajeet Cour. Singh, in a statement, observed that cinema has the ability to transcend cultures and turn into something universal beyond knowledge and information.
"The selection at Locarno reaffirms my faith that a certain kind of cinema still has relevance in this largely market-driven world with shrinking attention spans. Cinema remains a reflective and questioning space where meaning emerges not through spectacle but by quietly unfolding into the deeper layers of time, memory and tragedy, between continuity and change. I continue to believe that cinema, as a language, can transcend cultures, moving beyond knowledge and information into something more universal, humane and visceral. To have this kind of work recognised and presented on such a prestigious international platform is both deeply encouraging and profoundly exciting," he said.
The film also stars Suvinder Vicky, Mira Vashist, Navjot Randhawa and Anita Meet, besides debutantes Diya Kamboj, Harwinder Aujla and Jaswant Zafar. It's co-produced by Aneet's daughter Arpana Caur.
It's not just the main competition, but Singh's feature finds a nod for another award, Pardo for Change, which recognises films that engage with "environment, ethical, social and cultural issues." Chosen from across the festival programme, it will compete with 12 titles for the honour that carries a cash reward of CHF 20,000 (over Rs 20 Lakhs) for the winning director.
International festivals and acclaim aren't new for Singh, whose 2015 acclaimed work Chauthi Koot won the prestigious Un Certain Regard honour at the Cannes Film Festival. At home, he is the recipient of multiple Natkonal Awards - including for Chauthi Koot and his debut Anhey Ghorhey De Daan (2011).
