What’s in a name
Chaupal is a new streaming platform where you will be able to find the best Punjabi, Haryanvi and Bhojpuri content. My name is Sandeep Bansal and I am the founder — over the next few weeks (and months) I plan to tell you the story of how Chaupal came to be.
I thought I would start with the name.
I am Punjabi. I was born here, brought up here, set up my business here and built my home here and raised my daughter here. Poets have written about our mustard fields, the scent of our soil, the history that flows through our veins — I don’t have their sense of timing, or the ability to rhyme. What I do have is an abiding love for our language, our culture, our music and our stories. And, I have learnt that all people, of all cultures, share this love that translates into many things, but above all into a sense of belonging and community.
As an Indian and a Punjabi, I have always belonged — in the village I spent my early years in, in the Chandigarh of the 90s where I was finding my feet as an adult, in the cable business I pioneered in this part of the world, amongst the men (and women) of God who graced my first TV channel — Divya — and the musicians who transformed Punjabi music with the hits they premiered on our music channel Tashan.
Along the way, I learnt one very important lesson: that stories (and storytelling) make us human.
Stories bring us together — they remind us of who we are and where we have come from. Stories transport us, remove us from our circumstances, and allow us to experience an emotional journey as one people — undivided by class or creed. This incredible power of storytelling made me produce movies and launch Pitaara — our movie channel.
I believe it’s time to take our stories to the next level. We are investing in the best writers, directors and producers — encouraging them to tell stories that you have never seen before, in your language and idiom. And you will be able to see them anywhere, at a time of your choosing, on your preferred device, in the highest possible quality. We are committed to empowering our incredible community of filmmakers — old and young — to find their own voice and come together to serve a global audience.
Which is why we are called Chaupal.
The Chaupal is where we traditionally gathered, where we swapped stories and shared confidences, where we found strength and where we discovered support. There are places where the Chaupal still gathers under the shade of a tree. But, it is also the dining room table where our friends and family eat together. It is the living room of a recently-met friend in a foreign land. It is the “TV room” where we all sit and laugh together.
I welcome you to your new Chaupal — a place for you to gather, discover stories, be entertained, and go on emotional journeys that connect you to who you are and where you come from.
Next time: The art of picking a great story
