‘Sardaar ji’ opens to a good response at box office

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 28

Looking for fresh ideas and scripts, the Punjabi film industry is picking on some new tricks in trade. And so comes the ‘ghostly’ romantic comedy “Sardaar ji”. The Punjabi film, starring Diljit Dosanjh, Neeru Bajwa, Mandy Takkar and Jaswinder Bhalla, which was released this weekend, promises some fearless fun. The star cast of the film, including director Rohit Jugraj, was in the city to promote the film and talk about romance and horror in same frame. Turning the ghost stories into entertainment, the film is about hero ‘Sardaar ji’ Diljit Dosanjh volunteering for some ghost busting in the haunted Castle Craigdarroch in England, while beautiful actoress Neeru Bajwa plays the ghost.

Diljit, who is currently reigning Pollywood, with his recent success “Punjab 1984”, says, “It was just an idea with our writer Dheeraj Rattan. Later, after a few discussions with him, I asked him to give it a shape of a story. Being Sardaar ji, I represent every single Punjabi, who is adventurous enough to hunt for those ghosts, who exist more in stories than in reality.” The actor, who is also busy with his Bollywood project Imtiaz Ali’s “Udta Punjab” alongside Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt and Shahid Kapoor, said he too is adventurous when it comes to choosing his roles.

Playing the lead opposite Diljit, Mandy Takkar, said shooting for the film inside the castle did give her some ‘chills’. She said, “The castle we shot in was actually ghostly. After hearing its stories from the locales, I was horrified. More than that Diljit and Neeru took advantage of my fear and played a lot of pranks. I had a few sleepless nights too.”

On the other hand Neeru Bajwa enjoyed a lot while shooting. She said, “Playing the ghost isn’t too bad. When I saw myself into special effects during post-production, I was overwhelmed. The audience is certainly going to enjoy the quality of what has been shown in the film.”

As far as fresh stories and concepts in Punjabi film industry go, Rohit Jugraj says script is the ‘real’ star of the show. He says, “Stars are dependent on the film, film is dependent on the director and the director is always dependent on the script. Once you have a good script in your hand, the execution becomes lot easier and healthier. If the storyline is different, the director has liberty to work accordingly.” The producer of the film, Manmord Sidhu, agreed, “As producers, we always hunt for good concepts and are very open to experimentation. ‘Sardaar ji’ is one classic example of newness within the liking of Punjabi audiences. Audience will certainly like the film.”