Rehmat Locarno Film Festival: How a Punjabi Story Found Its Way to the World's Oldest Cinema Stage

10 July 2026

There's something quietly thrilling about a small story from Punjab walking straight into a room full of the world's biggest filmmakers. That's basically what just happened. Gurvinder Singh's new film, Rehmat, has been picked for the Main Competition at the 2026 Rehmat Locarno Film Festival, and honestly, the more you dig into it, the more it feels like one of those moments Indian cinema will talk about for years.

Let's slow down and actually unpack this, because there's a lot going on here, not just a headline.

Why This Actually Matters

Okay, so why should anyone outside film-festival circles care about this. Fair question. Here's the thing: getting into Locarno's Main Competition, called Concorso Internazionale, isn't just a nice mention on a poster. It's one of the toughest sections to crack at one of the oldest film festivals on earth, running since 1946. And an Indian film hasn't landed a spot in this exact section since Mahesh Narayanan's Malayalam feature Ariyippu made it in 2022. That's a four-year gap. So when Rehmat shows up here, it's not a small win, it's a signal that Indian independent cinema, especially Punjabi-language cinema, is being noticed at the highest level again.

There's also this: the film stars Naseeruddin Shah, an actor who barely needs an introduction in India, and he's coming off a string of attention-grabbing work, including the series Made In India: A Titan Story and Imtiaz Ali's Main Vaapas Aaunga. So there's a bit of momentum already following him into this.

What Rehmat Really Is (Explained Simply)

Now, what's the film actually about. No jargon, just the plain version.

Rehmat is set in present-day Punjab and tells three separate stories that quietly connect to each other. Think of it less like one straight narrative and more like three threads woven into the same cloth. One thread follows a young woman who secretly hides and nurses a wounded stranger, keeping him away from the police. Another follows a family living under the long shadow of someone's disappearance, where the children grow up without a father and an older grandfather has to step back into running the household. The third, and this one's a little strange in a good way, involves an elderly man who arrives claiming to be God.

Together, these stories explore hope, loss, and belonging in a region that carries a complicated history of religious and cultural diversity. Singh himself put it simply when speaking to Variety, saying Rehmat shows how people in such a diverse land keep hope alive despite divisive political forces.

The screenplay isn't invented from scratch either. It's adapted from four short stories by Ajeet Cour, a well-known and somewhat radical feminist voice in Punjabi literature. Singh actually got access to her writing through her daughter, the painter Arpana Caur, who shared her mother's books with him over several years and eventually joined the project as a producer herself.

How Rehmat Made It to Locarno, Step by Step

Here's a rough walk-through of how a film like this actually reaches a stage like Locarno.

The director develops the concept, in this case pulling from existing literary material rather than an original script.
A production house comes on board. Rehmat happens to be the very first project from Pavo Films, a brand-new Paris-based company co-founded by Cosmin Illes and Némésis Srour, alongside India's Vahao Studio.
The film gets cast. Alongside Naseeruddin Shah, the ensemble includes Suvinder Vicky, Mita Vasisht, Diya Kamboj, Navjot Randhawa, and 51-year-old Jaswant Zafar, a respected Punjabi poet making his acting debut here.

The finished film is submitted to festivals. Locarno alone received a record 7,759 submissions this year for its 2026 edition, a jump of over 20 percent from the year before.
A selection committee, led by artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro, narrows this down to 233 total works across sections.
Rehmat lands in the 17-film Concorso Internazionale, competing directly for the festival's top prize, the Pardo d'Oro, or Golden Leopard.

Real-World Context: Who Else Is in the Running

It helps to see the company Rehmat is keeping. This year's Main Competition also features Hong Sang-soo's Nowhere to Lay My Eyes, Denis Côté's Nobody's Violence, Nelson Yeo's The House on the Moon, Maria Bäck's Brave New Love, and Basil Da Cunha's O Jacaré. That's a genuinely international, genuinely serious lineup, and Rehmat sits right in the middle of it representing India and France jointly.

The Golden Leopard award itself carries a cash prize of CHF 75,000, and beyond that, Rehmat has also been nominated for the special Pardo for Change award, given to films tackling pressing social, ethical, and environmental themes, which comes with an additional CHF 20,000 for the director.

Mistakes People Keep Making When Reading This News

A common slip up here, understandable one, is assuming this is Singh's first brush with international recognition. It really isn't. His debut feature Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan played at Venice in 2011. Chauthi Koot got an Un Certain Regard slot at Cannes in 2015. His more recent films, Adh Chanani Raat and Khanaur, screened at Rotterdam and Busan. He's a three-time National Award winner. So no, this isn't a newcomer's lucky break, it's a continuation of a fairly serious body of work.

Another mix-up worth flagging: people sometimes confuse this Locarno slot with a Cannes or Venice premiere. It's neither. Rehmat's world premiere is set for August 6 in Locarno, Switzerland, as part of the 79th edition running August 5 to 15, 2026.

Pro Tips for Following the Story

If you want to actually track this properly, keep an eye on official Locarno announcements rather than secondary aggregator sites, since festival programming details shift closer to the event. Also worth noting, since Punjabi cinema doesn't always get wide theatrical release timelines announced early, festival buzz is often the first real signal of when and where a film like this becomes publicly viewable.

Closing Thoughts

There's something worth sitting with here. A film built from decades-old short stories, shaped by a first-time production house, carried partly by a poet stepping in front of a camera for the first time in his fifties, now standing shoulder to shoulder with some of world cinema's most established names. That's not a small thing. Whatever happens with the Golden Leopard, Rehmat has already done something quietly significant just by getting into that room.

Disclaimer: This article is based on information available across the web. Parchar Manch does not take responsibility for its complete accuracy, as the content could not be fully verified.

FAQs

What is Rehmat about?

It's a Punjabi-language film telling three interconnected stories set in present-day Punjab, touching on themes of hope, disappearance, and belonging, adapted from short stories by writer Ajeet Cour.

Who stars in Rehmat?

Naseeruddin Shah leads the cast, alongside Suvinder Vicky, Mita Vasisht, Diya Kamboj, Navjot Randhawa, Harwinder Aujla, and poet Jaswant Zafar in his acting debut.

When does Rehmat premiere at Locarno?

Its world premiere is scheduled for August 6, 2026, during the 79th Locarno Film Festival, which runs from August 5 to 15.

What award is Rehmat competing for?

It's competing for the Pardo d'Oro, or Golden Leopard, the festival's top prize, and has also been nominated for the special Pardo for Change award.

Has an Indian film done this before?

Yes, but not recently. The last Indian film in Locarno's Main Competition was Mahesh Narayanan's Ariyippu back in 2022.

Who is Gurvinder Singh?

He's a National Award-winning Indian filmmaker whose earlier work, including Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan and Chauthi Koot, has previously screened at Venice and Cannes.