Carry on guys!

Jasmine Singh

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While Punjabi film producer of White Hill Studios Manmord Sidhu likes to play safe with numbers, the other partner, Gunbir Singh Sidhu is all for experimenting with new scripts and actors. 

Despite this difference, both share a passion for producing Punjabi films and music, both know how to take loss in their stride and also how to celebrate success of a project, like they are doing now, enjoying the numerical increase in the profit rate of their recently produced film, Carry On Jatta 2. 

While Manmord, a graduate from Film School of Vancouver, is based out in Canada, Gunbir calls Chandigarh and Mohali his home ground. Over the period, these two have acquired the knack of picking financially viable projects. “Not always,” Gunbir lists some of their productions like Channa Mereya and Saab Bahadur that did not recover money. 

“I was shocked when Punjabi film Romeo Ranjha crashed at the box office, but now, Manmord bhaji and I understand the rhythm of the industry, we know we will lose some and gain some.” 

White Hill Studios started by Manmord, who was the line producer for Punjabi hit film Jatt & Juliet, a project where Gunbir came on board as the producer was making Punjabi films which were commercially viable and creatively appealing. 

“Both of us recognised that we shared the same professional ethics, we both wanted a corporate style of functioning in Punjabi film industry and thus I joined White Hill for good,” adds Gunbir, who sees his partner play the role of a balancer. “Had it been for my creative ideas, I would have burnt down the studio by now,” he laughs.

The success of Carry on Jatta 2 doesn’t come as a surprise for the producers; they did expect a good show but not such a great response. “Since Carry On Jatta was a cult comedy film, we were expecting the sequel to do pretty well. But we didn’t know that it would be a top grosser breaking Punjabi film Sardaarji’s response too.” 

The producers of much-acclaimed film Punjab 1984 and Jatt & Juliet at the same time have a word of advice for actors-turned-producers. “The newly turned actor producers need to first understand the industry in and out, they need to understand taxation issues, the kind of money they invest and how to do that. For instance, some first time producers invest so much money on an actor who cannot guarantee a decent opening at the box office, which is wrong.”  

Apart from the sound advice, Gunbir feels that the biggest drawback in Punjabi film industry is the obscene amount of money that the singer-actors charge for working in films. “There should be a proper producer’s  association to look into this matter.” 

jasmine@tribunemail.com