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.
Film was stalled in between due to lack of funds,but soon was restarted.Its songs specially Challa was already popular,Her Posters were all over in Poster Stands of Punjab.She joined the team on Premiere,and walked out with praise for her performance.Film Reviews of Major Newspaper praised the natural act.Some filmmakers came forward to sign her but she said no to film offers.
