They call it the Guru’s Mission. One which goes beyond the existing realms of preaching and performing rituals. It instead travels to the heart of Punjab and deals with a problem that’s eating away the vitals of a once healthy state. “The menace of drugs and addiction to it has taken deep roots in our society and the youth and wasting their lives over it,” Hardeep Singh, along with Professor Manjit Singh, took upon themselves this mammoth task of fighting this evil and creating awareness. The result : A two-hour Punjabi film, ‘Kab Gal Lavehnge’.

“Somewhere, down the line, our teachers, our parents, the pillars of our society have crumbled and ignored their duties and responsibilities and let our children gone astray. We, as the religious heads of our society, have decided to face the problem and find a solution to it,” tells Prof Manjit, who has written and produced the film, is a former Jathedar of Takhat Sri Keshgarh Sahib and interestingly, runs a drug de-addiction centre at Anandpur Sahib. “I term it more of mental illness, weakness than anything else. Chaa-paani is now whisky-soda. Drugs are openly served at parties and get togethers...this has to stop,” adds Hardeep, who has been doing theatre for 25 years and directing socio-religious films since 1998. “Masala, comedy and sensation - only this sells today. There is a strong need for films with a social message, films which communicate in the language villagers, the interiors of India understands. And people want to see these films,” Hardeep’s gone the DPR way - he and his team have travelled into the interiors of Punjab and screened films door to door, in open grounds, in huge sabhas. Aman Khalsa, Dharam Di Chadar, Shaheedan De Sartaj...his films centre around Punjab history and culture. “Like the current one...it talks about a preacher’s mission in a village lost to drugs, how he moulds the minds of its residents and saves them from this evil. There are difficulties, there is a drug mafia, the police politician nexus, but if we are strong, our moral fibre is in place then we can fight this menace,” he feels. Seems like a story Prof Manjit Singh has lived. “You can say that....we have rehabilitated around 2,500 youth and some of them come back and work for us,” says Prof Manjit, calling his centre “a meditation and medication facility”. Spiritualism does clear the clouds!