So This Is The Reason Why Jimmy Sheirgill Does One Punjabi Movie Per Year!
One man who can be credited for reviving the essence of Punjabi cinema is Jimmy Sheirgill. Not only has he been the reason for bringing back the long lost lusture in Punjabi films but also content oriented, meaningful movies.
Jimmy Sheirgill has constantly been working over the years and delivering good Punjabi movies. His movies were surely the reason why Punjabi audiences started coming to the theatres and spending their money on Punjabi movies. Be it 'Yaaran Naal Bahaaran, which released 12 years ago, or Mannat, his movies have been different and always had something that was worth a watch. After he pulled up the Punjabi film industry, he also turned producer and produced few movies, but soon he was honest enough to admit that producing a movie takes a lot of time and he shall do it when he retires as an actor.
Jimmy has been astounding us with his power packed performances in Bollywood every now and then. He is regularly working in Bollywood and currently is busy due to a couple of projects out of which Sahib Biwi Gangster 3 and Happy Bhag Jayegi 2 are buzzing. But what happens when it comes to Punjabi industry? Why does Jimmy do just one film a year now??
Talking to the man himself, we got to know his side of the story:
Why just one movie per year? Is it some sort of pact or is it your tight Bollywood schedule?
I love working, be it Bollywood or Punjabi film industry but I would also admit that I love it more in Punjab as it is my mother land and my family is here. So, I love shooting in Punjab and it feels like home.
Talking about the question of why one Punjabi movie per year...hmmm..going back in time, 2005, when I did Yaraan Naal Bahaaran, I realized that the Punjabi market is one which needs attention. I rigorously worked on movies one after the another and then got busy in promotion. Promotions weren’t easy back then there was no social media. I literally had to go everywhere...each college, each university of Punjab to promote the movie and urge the target audience to come and watch regional cinema. My promotion schedule was 30 days long,,,jam packed. I did continuous movies because the market needed movies then, but as I did Mel Krade Rabba, I realized that other makers have also entered the market and I can be now be relaxed as the content for Punjabi audience would now come from other makers as well.
Since then, take up any of my interviews, I have always promised that I would surely do one Punjabi movie every year and since then I have been fulfilling the promise. I am so attached to Punjabi industry that I always look for a great script and I am way too enthusiastic for working on it .
So this is because of that promise that you would just do one movie?
(Laughs and reverts) I would love to do more than one movie, I am an actor and if I get a good script anytime I would be more than happy to work on it. The language doesn’t matter to me, just that Bollywood gives me variety of roles. Punjabi industry is still slow with content generation. I had planned Jindua when I was done with Shareek because after an intense role like Shareek I wanted to do a young role of Jindua for which I had to lose weight to change the look. Currently, I am doing Daana Paani with Taranvir Jagpal, which is another unique kind of story that Jas Grewal has written.
What kind of Punjabi movie would you love to make, seeing the on going trend of the industry ?
I would love to work on a script with an intense love story which would have ample drama, romance and action.
But anything out-of-the box coming my way, I would be the first one to pick it up and do it. I am not trend driven. Anything that would satisfy the urge of an actor inside me is something I would sign. I don't just sign movies because of it's trendy subject or because everyone is doing such stuff.
We would love to watch this ever charming actor in Punjabi industry more and would hope that this one movie promise is not kept too sternly.
