With Udta Punjab and most recently, Anushka Sharma’s second home production Phillauri, Punjabi star Diljit Dosanjh is slowly making his presence felt in Bollywood.
With Udta Punjab and most recently, Anushka Sharma’s second home production Phillauri, Punjabi star Diljit Dosanjh is slowly making his presence felt in Bollywood.
Punjabi cinema star Diljit Dosanjh is being wooed in right earnest by Bollywood. Soon after completing Abhishek Sharma’s Udta Punjab, Diljit has now accepted an offer for Anushka Sharma’s home production Phillauri. But Diljit is taking it slow and does not yearn to be a Bollywood hero anytime soon. “I am very happy doing Punjabi films. They’ve given a wide platform to express myself,” he clarifies.
The actors who has acted in successful Punjabi films like Jatt Aur Julie, Sardaarji and recently Ambarsariya, does not believe in remaking the films into Hindi. “These films have a very colloquial culture-specific language which I am afraid would be lost in translation. So no. If I do Hindi films, they’d be originals,” he adds.
Only after going through the script did Diljit agree to play his part in Abhishek Sharma’s Udta Punjab because, he explains, “I didn’t want to end up looking foolish or compromised just to be seen in a pan-India film”.
Although he is quite sure about his films and characters, Diljit confides that the film promotions a la Bollywood is quite flustering for him. “In Punjab I recommend my releases to my fans during my live shows. In a way, I am lucky to have a direct connect. But that’s all I do. The process of marketing is far more complicated and time consuming in Bollywood. I don’t know if I can manage it,” he says.
But that works well, as long as the offers keep coming. Diljit has recently given his nod to Anushka Sharma’s second home production Phillauri, primarily because of the script. According to him, “When Anushkaji came to me with the film I wasn’t sure I’d do it. But when I heard the film’s climax I was completely sold. She has a terrific role. But so do I. So brilliant is the story idea that I wonder why I didn’t produce it.”
On a different note, the shy star points out how the silver screen didn’t favour turbaned actors, but he is sees a change coming through. “There was a time when turbaned heroes were considered unwelcome in movies. Now that has changed. Rather than the turban being a limitation for my acting career, it is my USP; especially when I see little kids wanting to tie the turban and be like me,” he says.
His recently released Punjabi film Ambarsariya, has been highly successful in Punjab and overseas, and the actor-singer-performer Diljit will now be making his Hindi debut with Udta Punjab, this June
Diljit started his career as singer in 2009 and made his first acting debut in in 2011 — his first film being The Lion Of Punjab. With more acting offers, needless to say, Diljit has to judiciously divide his time between music and acting. But music still remains his first love. “I am what I am because of music and singing. When I go on stage in front of thousands of fans I almost feel like a part of their extended family,” he says. Even between his tight schedules while shooting, he makes it a point to release a single every two or three months. “Otherwise my fans feel betrayed and unhappy. I too feel miserable when I am not singing,” he adds.
He still considers himself a musician first and an actor second. “I became an actor by chance. The roles started coming in and I took them up for a lark. Bass, yun hi karvan chalta raha. One film followed another. But believe me, to this day I don’t know camera angles, or lighting on the sets. Many times, my co-stars remind me that I am blocking their light on the sets. Mujhe yeh sab ke baare mein kuch maloom nahin,” confesses a frank Diljit.
