Kids in Punjabi Cinema

There is dearth of Films for Children in Punjabi Language,There have been attempt,but very few in numbers.If looked at films made by Children Film Society,there will be many films in other regional languages,but hardly two Punjabi films were funded by Children Film Society that too way back in 80s,These two films Sajjre Phul & Kashmira were directed by Famous Punjabi Film Director Sukhdev Ahluwalia,Sajre Phull released theatrically,and was even made in Hindi under title Khilte Suman,it had stars like Raza Murad,Mehar Mittal,Manorama etc in principal cast.In early period of Punjabi Cinema,Noorjahan got huge popularity as child artist in Punjabi Films,but later on films with important children characters were few and far between.Apart from Sajjre Phull & Kashmira,there was a film in recent times Stupid 7 directed by Pali Bhupinder Singh,it successfully presented issues faced by growing children through seven teenagers characters.But Chaar Sahibzaade & its Sequel will remain most popular film,when it come to films for children in Punjabi.

In past there have been few films with kids playing roles of childhood of leading hero or heroin,At times kids related to producers would do such roles(Producer da Munda,Bhatija,Hero da Munda or randomly would select any kid where shooting would take place).
Harry Johal-A UK based Radio Host & Producer,who played the role of young Raza Murad in film Maawan Thandian Chaawan,recalls that time",Film's producer was known to us,I was interviewed by Sukhdev Ahluwalia,he found me perfect for the part,and got selected without any screen test".
In 90s Yuvraj Singh also acted in few Punjabi Films as Child Artist.Actor Vijay Tandon's daughter Pooja Tandon(Lion of Punjab fame) also acted as child artist.Jaswinder Bhalla's Son acted in Stupid 7 as young teen,and graduated to do role of young characters.
So most of times kids were selected just because they were related to people,associated with the film.
Jannatpreet Kaur,a former child artist from Ludhiana,acted in Hindi & Punjabi Films,says there was difference of approach when it come to working in Hindi & Punjabi Films.She was last seen in Stupid 7.
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Off late with new experiments and subjects,Child Artists played important roles in most of recent releases like Love Punjab,Ardaas,Sardaar Ji 2,Nikka Jaildaar etc.
But today things are more professional,Manvir Johal was important as Amrinder Gill & Sargun Mehta in Love Punjab.Even though Japtej Singh got more popularity as young Milkha,in Bhag Milkha Bhag,but Punjabi Film Industry also took notice of his work in  as main protagonist Mitti Na Pharol Jogiya.
Agamveer Singh became famous with Gurdas Mann's Song Punjab,and got huge praises for his part.Ask him about popularity,he says he feel blessed when people notice him and give blessings.
Dilnoor Kaur,daughter of Actor Vikram Chauhan,did her first short film Najarbattu at the age of 2,after that she also did Sarwan and currently doing Aalna and Daana Paani.
There is Ansh Tejpal,who was in both parts of Nikka Jaildaar,also actively doing more projects.
Now the big question is,how they manage their studies,
According to Agamvir,his teachers are very supportive,so he never had any problem in making a balance between acting and studies.
Vikram Chauhan father of Dilnoor,says she is very bright student,and cover two weeks syllabus in two days.
They are making parents,school and themselves proud as child artists,but will they continue with acting career as adult ?
Jannatpreet says,of course after studies she will pursue acting again.
Similarly Dilnoor's parents feel that it will be up to Dilnoor,if she continued with acting as adult as well.
Prince Kanwaljit Singh is currently making a film Rabba Rabba Meenh Varsa,keeping young audience in mind.Beside that Rana Ranbir and Gurdas Mann's forthcoming films will also have child artists in important roles.
Punjabi Film Industry is finally going a professional way,with now enough scope for child artists as well,With Popular Film Awards,they should announce an another category for children too.

Babbu Mann,a singer with huge fan following,wont be mentioning much about his singing career,the man who glorified hathyar through one of his songs,while in one of his earlier song he sing from a girl's point of view,pind pehra lagda(dont come to meet in night),now the song is close to two decade old,than there was this song about girl getting married,and telling her lover to do maujan,because later she will be marrying someone else..Now thats Babbu Mann,who also sang Jatt Di Joon Buri,to Wonderfully composed Mitran Di Chatri,Ajj Mainu Pher Teri Yaad,Pakki Kanak etc to later on taking digs at derawad with Ik Baba Nanak Si.Off late he is coming with disaster after other,at one hand he talks about Delhi Damini Gang Rape,and in other one blame girls for consent of sex,and than declaring it rape.

Looking at his acting career,He started with Hindi Film Hawaien,one of the best work on 1984,well detailed on truth.He was being promoted as major face of the film,but it was Amitoze Mann(Director of the film),who was in main lead,while Babbu was in strong supporting character of Kanpuria.

Hawaein was received well in North and Overseas,but could do no wonder in Hindi Belts.But hats off to Babbu and rest of producers to produce such project.

It took him another three year to come on screen again,with Punjabi Film Rabb Ne Banaiyan Jodiyan.It had superhit music,while the producer wanted to relaunch his son Jajj Pandher with a punjabi film,Those who have not seen,should watch it for Babbu's wardrobe,his long hair and chibb kadhan wali acting.There is a youtube video going the round,about how they came out with bold song,Rabb Ne Banaiaan Jodiyan also had one of first(or second) lip to lip kiss scene in Punjabi Film,along with very bold song Mainu Pata Nahi Laggeya.While fans enjoyed watching his fav in romantic scenes(maje le gaya jatt).There is difference in doing bold scenes,one done with full conviction,and other just keep doing anything,keep kissing the heroine..keep taking your hands anywhere..Well,film released,and ran for around 5-6 weeks(that too not in big cities,but smaller one) in Punjab(At time when Harbhajan Mann films were celebrating 100 days or even silver jubilee)

Film was an avrage at box office,while music sales saved the film more.

Next he had Hashar,a well made film,but again with Babbu's limited acting skills,but still better than over acting of its leading lady Gurleen Chopra(grand pa grand pa...maninder maninder),Now sample this a man with strong mind and values,lost his sense when a girl rejects him,He dont even cleared any matter of MMS with her.But still a good film.It was one of Babbu's biggest success with running for over 12 weeks in Punjab and celebrated 50 days at few cinemas.

His next was Ekam,a social film,in spite of less promotion it did well,though not a perfect film,but still a good attempt at social issue,it did well.

Then there were two of his productions Hero Hitler In Love or so,with bad songs and bad camera work and cheap look,opened well,but was out of theatres in second-third week.

Desi Romeos was again low profile,less publicized film,but did well at box office.

Baaz came at wrong time,While in order of respect or fear  some Punjabi Filmmakers pushed their films ahead,Baaz was released right after Chaar Sahibzaade,while his fans kept shouting film is hit,reputed site like box office india declared it flop.

His fans kept making memes to put other singers down,abusing fans of other singers,and dont wish to face reality.Baaz released in 2014,and since than no film of Babbu released,so called superstar and with no film release in last 3-4 years.Sometime back there was news he is doing three Hindi films,there is not even a trace of single Hindi Film.

In fact even Singing,he is best at is doing no wonder,with coming out with flop songs,and try to listen his Hindi Songs,Next he is coming with a film,lets hope for best.High time he realized his mistakes(he interfere a lot in his director's work,a director blamed him for its failure),An actor cant rise above script,work at script and his acting.With this kind of fan following,he should have a release every year,in stead of cashing well on his fan following,he coming with one blunder song after other..Hopefully Banjara will do wonders for him.

Jatt Te Zameen

There are films,which dont age well,and its case with with 90 % punjabi films,Where in other film industries there is repeat value of many classics,But in Punjabi even most of successful Punjabi Films are long forgotten,may be thats because of lack of Punjabi Film Channels.

Jatt Te Zameen is one film,which was technically not of standard of Chann Pardesi or Nanak Naam Jahaj Hai or even Putt Jattan De,but over the years gained popularity among youngsters thanks to Youtube.

Jatt te Zameen can be fondly remember for various reasons.It was one of first Punjabi Film,in which Turbaned Hero was presented as action star as one of main lead-Sukhjinder Shera,who also produced and wrote the film(in past Turbaned Hero characters were written for Religious films only).Previously Sukhjinder worked with Veerendra in Yaari Jatt Di,so it was during Yaari Jatt Di,Jatt Te Zameen was planned.Varinder was killed during shoot of Jatt Te Zameen,one of the other major reason for its popularity.

Jatt Te Zameen launched and relaunched careers of every actor,associated with it.

Varinder and Sukhjinder Shera played main leads in the film,Earlier Preeti Sapru was suppose to do one of female lead,but she was busy with her own home production film.So Varinder decided to launch two newcomers with it.When he was in Bombay,he met an aspiring actress called Vijya-daughter of Punjabi Hindi Film Actor Balwant Bansal.He renamed her Manpreet Kaur,and she signed three film deal with Varinder.She was present at the scene,when Varinder was assassinated,She was badly disturbed with the incident,left the film industry and never did any other film.She later got married to an Actor Suraj Chadda(who also did Hindi Punjabi films and seriels)

For other female lead,they signed Suman Dutta,who was starting her singing career during that time.She got to do few more Punjabi Films after that,but concentrated more on her singing career,In one of Interview she said that Producers dont  pay well,and she cant spent her own money on costumes,transportation and other things.

Guggu Gill and Yograj Singh worked in few films prior to Jatt Te Zameen,but they got mass popularity with Jatt Te Jameen,Dialogues like Bhain Deya Veera(By Guggu Gill) and Jeeta Jeeta,Jihne Mera Lahu Peeta(By Yograj) went on to become very popular among cinegoers.

Sangeeta Mehta was a stage actress,after making a debut as lead actress in one of Punjabi Film in late 70s,she was mostly seen in small sidekick roles,In Jatt Te Zameen she played one of the pivotal role,originally written for noted Hindi Punjabi Film Character Actress Shammi,After Jatt Te Zameen,Sangeeta was regular in mother roles through out 90s.

Apart from them Artists like Gopi Bhalla,Saroop Parinda(known as Atro),Surinder Rihal(last directed Myself Paindu) etc also benefited from the movie.Varinder & Mehar Mittal were only two major names associated with the film.

Coming to that fateful evening,It was 6 Dec 1988, When during the shoot of film,Varinder was gunned down by extremists,Known Cinematographer of Punjabi Films,Pritam Singh Bhalla also got bullets,but he survived.

Film was released in Summer of 1989,there were already big Hindi films like Chandni,Elaan E Jung and Jadugar were releasing one after other at that time.Jatt Te Zameen got bumper opening and went on to become successful Punjabi Film.Varinder was only active lead actor,producer and director that time,so his demise left a big void in the Industry,but thanks to Jatt Te Zameen's success Industry got some new talent.

Sometime back Guggu Gill mentioned in one of his Interview that Jatt Te Zameen part two is being planned,it will be great if it happens. 

Punjabi Music Video Industry

Punjabi Music Video Industry,at present is 300 Million(around) Industry,Annually.Punjab is having approximately twenty thousand singers(could be even more,with around 200 hundred most popular faces),played major role in building Punjabi Music Video Industry,also providing work to thousands(models,junior artists,technicians,choreographer,make up artists,assistants and many more).

80s

Lets get back to where it all started,With the arrival of TV,Jalandhar Doordarshan was born,Its new year programs were most awaited shows,Gurdas Mann rose to fame through one of such Jalandhar Doordarshan based musical shows,Even Jaspinder Narula got major platform through Jalandhar Doordarshan.Malkit Singh's Tootak Tootak Tootian was most selling album of that era,Its video increased Malkit's popularity more.A young turbaned boy,in shimmer jacket caught everyone's attention.That was most probably one of the first popular video of any Punjabi Singer.Singers/Companies were releasing the albums,and they never really needed an extra expenditure of videos,as audio cassettes business was at its peak.

So most of these videos were made by Jalandhar Doordarshan for their musical programs,most of these videos were shot in indoor studios,with singer lisping on their own songs,and a Bhangra team dancing on one side of stage.

90s

Hardeep Singh's Shehar Patiale De was one of the first song,which was shot outdoor in the busy city roads of Patiala.Solo Singers, were performing on their songs,and they did not need a female performer for their song.Hans Raj Hans's song Vanjaran Kudiye was one of first attempt,where a female artist Neelu

was given extra importance in the song along with Hans Raj Hans.

Neelu-a law student got popularity as Vanjaran Kudi

,she later on did comedy albums with Jaswinder Bhalla.

Post the success of Video Album Gidha Pao Kudiye,

Now Music Companies started making videos of Singers,Most of the female artists were College going Gidha Group students.Soon Punjabi Film Actresses like Manjit Kular & Ravinder Mann appeared in videos of Hans Raj Hans,Manmohan Waris etc,Earlier only singers use to perform on world tours,now there was demand of female artists too,who would dance on songs or host the stage shows.Rano Mann was one of the first professional dancer,who shared the stage with many Big Singers.

Mid 90s

By mid 90s with Daler Mehndi's song Tara Rara whole video album concept changed,His next song Dardi Rabb Rabb Kardi featured Deepshikha,Big Companies like T Series and Tips eyed on Punjabi Music Market.So most of Big Singer's videos were made in Mumbai featuring Aaisha Jhulka,Varsha Usgaonkar,Deepti Bhatnagar,Kanchan,Kashmira Shah etc.

Late 90s

Surjit Bindrakhiya's album Mukhda Dekh Ke was big success,followed by Luck Tunu Tunu.Now,to cut costs companies would make one song with mix up of other Songs in Mumbai,and one or two songs in Punjab.For Eg a song with urban feel  use to have big budget,In such cases top models of Mumbai use to act,Mallika Sherawat was also there in one of Surjit Bindrakhiya Song.

A song with desi or rural touch would done in Punjab,with Gurleen Chopra,Aarti Puri etc featuring in.

2000

With arrival of new millennium Major Punjabi Singers got huge star status in other states.Harbhajan Mann,Hans Raj Hans,Sardool Sikander also appeared in dance numbers of Hindi Films.In 1999 Babbu Mann appeared in very cheaply made video of his song Pind Pehra Lagda,but with in two years He was romancing Shama Sikander,Sakshi Shivanand etc in Music Videos of his next album.

Most of Punjab Youth was now interested in field of Music,trained and untrained both.With Overflow of new songs,new singers,new companies there was need of publicity.Once a senior singer mentioned in an Interview",ajjkal gaiki sunan wali nahi,dekhan wali jyada ban gai hai.While big companies like T Series continued with lavish scale,Punjab based companies too have to follow the same route of making music videos of audio albums.New Punjabi Music channels arrived by 2000,it helped new age singers to reach out to more people.Companies and Singers with little resources continued with smart budget videos.

Mannat Singh was one of first most popular face of Desi Punjabi Music Videos,then known as Sukhi Pawar.She fondly remembers the old time "I did my first video for free and got paid eight thousand for second.Today girls are provided proper team Make Up Artist,Costume Designer etc.But earlier we would get such facilities rarely,mostly i had to manage on my own.I never complained as main thing was that i was getting work,We would start in the morning and finish the whole video by evening.

Saniya Pannu who started by 2004,too have similar take on this.She shares",i recently did a Punjabi music video after long gap and I could see the difference in every aspect of video making.

Actress Aarti Puri-another popular face of Punjabi Music Videos feels that with time everything change and gets improved,thats law of nature.

Though female models still feels that they are not given their due for the popularity of songs,as its singers who takes the cake.But male models feel otherwise,Actor Baljit Mathoun who did few music vidoes in 2003-04 period said  that there was dearth of girls in industry,and back then 3-4 girls were in circulations and they were more popular,Compared to that male models were more in numbers.

Similarly Most Popular Male Model of that time Navi Verma says that At times I was not even paid,forget about providing basic facilities.

Gavie Chahal,Navtej Singh,Daksh Ajit,Goldy Somal,Angad Hasija to Delhi based Male Models were active in Punjabi Videos from 2002 to 2006 period.

Punjabi Film Superstar Neeru Bajwa too started her journey with Punjabi Entertainment Industry with Punjabi Music Video of Kamal Heer's Kainthewala.By the same time era of Audio Cassettes came to an end.CD's place was taken  by MP3,Not only Punjabi,but Indian Music Industry was at its worst phase because of piracy.

2005

By 2006 Miss Pooja came into the scene,and with countless number of songs,she became the major face of Punjabi Video Songs,replacing the female models.

That left popular female models with less work,most of them moved to Mumbai for work.Some girls did some popular songs,but vanished soon..Reason ?

When Some of these girls would ask for more money,they were shown door,There were many in numbers to replace them,So no one could establish themselves.Besides that there were few incidents of casting couch.

Miss Pooja phase continued for next few years,till she cut down on work.Surprisingly Male Models got more popularity and work in this period(because some singers back then were middle aged,or younger one failed to get their act right in music videos)Navi Bhangu,Jimmy Sharma,Aman Sutdhar,Kartar Cheema,Victor John etc were there in every second Punjabi Music Video.

According to Navi Bhanghu,"Today everything is well planned,Earlier we were informed about shoot at last hour,In case I was busy,I would recommend Jimmy or Victor,or they would recommend me when they were busy.

2010

Then came Rap based songs,and after Miss Pooja,now Honey Singh became face of Video Songs.With more number of young singers being face of their own song,that left models with less work.Punjabi Cinema was getting back on its feet,and work started coming from films and Hindi TV Seriels.

Few years down the line concept of whole music album almost came to an end.Thats where singles came into the picture,and also number of young singers joined the Punjabi Music Field.Mp3 was gone,Pen Drive arrived and still sustaining.But it was power of social media which brought everyone associated with a music video on great platform.

Technology rocks,more YouTube hits more earnings.Melody took backseat,and all the hard work goes in to making a classy Music Video.

Himanshi Khurana and Sara Gurpal are two big names in current Punjabi Music Videos,besides them there are many more active in this field.They are working on their own terms and conditions.They are provided proper team.They are ruling on Social Sites,and having kind of fan base that could leave  even a mid level Hindi Film Heroines behind.Though Punjabi Male Models are not established in that way,as Young Singers are face of their own song.

Rimpy Prince,Model Turned Video Director Sukh Sanghera,Actor-Director Parmish Verma,Navjit Buttar,Jashan Nanrah,Arvinder Khaira are big players  as Music Video Directors,coming out with videos that are not only rich in looks,but far superior in camera work with aerial shots and low high angles.At times,in fact most of times even an ordinary song would click with people if its video clicked with them.Sadly in some cases even a good song went unnoticed when visually it could not make a mark.But in case both works,result is always phenomenal.

From a 12 by 12 indoor studio to outdoor to green fields to hills,from local to foreign locations Punjabi Music Video Industry came a long way.