Dharamsala News: Work on Shobha Singh’s biopic begins

Dharamshala: A Mumbai-based film company has begun work on making a biopic on the life of legendary artist Sobha Singh. A group of filmmakers from MRM Films today visited Sobha Singh’s art gallery in Andretta. They also met Sobha Singh’s family and collected information about the artist from the family members and other residents of Andretta village. Legendary artist Sobha Singh, credited with creating portraits of Sikh Gurus and many other world-famous paintings related to the folk and culture of Punjab, spent most of his time in Andretta village, where he moved after the partition of India in 1947. This small village came on the international art map because of Sobha Singh artist’s paintings. Popularly, it is now known as Kalagram (Arts Village). Initially, the artist got a small grass-covered hut to live in, but gradually transformed it into a full-fledged art gallery. The house was designed by him himself and he kept improving and altering it from the year 1949 to 1986. Speaking to The Tribune, Manmohan Singh, who heads a team of filmmakers at Andretta, said they planned to release the biopic on Sobha Singh just before his 125th birth anniversary on November 29, 2026. “In the biopic we will try to bring out the significance of Sobha Singh as an artist and his contribution to Sikhism and art. He standardised the images of Sikh Gurus after doing extensive research on whatever information was available about them. He also created masterpieces like Sohni Mehwal, which gave life to the folklore of Punjab,” he said. Manmohan Singh said working on the script was proving to be challenging. “We have been doing extensive research on the artist’s life from books available about him, speaking to his disciples, family members and visiting places associated with his life. He lived and worked in Lahore, now in Pakistan, the UK and Iraq. However, after shifting to Andretta he spent most of his life creating masterpieces of art in his small studio. Once the script is ready, we will proceed with the shooting and finalise the cast of the film,” he said. Sobha Singh’s grandson Hirday Paul Singh said he was approached by the filmmakers to make the biopic. “We are extending all possible help to the film crew in preparing the script about the great artiste. We are providing them Sobha Singh’s letters and writings besides his pictures so that they can get an idea about the artiste’s personality. My mother Gurcharan Kaur has also briefed the film crew members about her conversations with my father so that they can know about Sobha Singh’s personal life, which not many people know about,” he said.