Angreji beat te

Jasmine Singh

The first look of the Punjabi film, Angrej, shows a man walking ten steps ahead of a woman, who is apparently his wife. The voice over goes on to say, ‘lo ji gal karan lagey han unhan veyleyan de pyar di, ki sang aini zaada si, jadon banda apni gharwali ton vi dus kadaam di duri tey chalda si’ (the story belongs to the era when a husband used to walk ten steps ahead of his wife). The trailer reveals the rest.

“How did you find it,” is the actor-singer Amrinder Gill’s first question. He is curious, excited and all the same nervous, which he masks well with a childish laughter. Amrinder plays the lead character, Angrej, in this soon to be released Punjabi film Angrej set in 1945.

A tough call

The singer-actor, post the success of Goreyan Nu Daffa Karo, is completely aware of the word expectations. But it is not just the word that hounds Amrinder, it is the thought that the film that he nurtured like a child of his own, since its birth, would be able to put its best final show forward on July 31.

He is giggling, exposing his charming crooked canine. “Immediately, after Goreyan Nu Daffa Karo, I, along with the screenplay writer, Amberdeep, and a few like-minded people started working on this film,” shares Amrinder, who face challenges head on.

“One, since the film is set on an old time, very old time, where I play a khaiti wala insaan, I couldn’t afford to look plump, the way I was. So, the pressure was to lose weight and look presentably-haggard. I went without food for so many days. In fact, after sometime, I didn’t feel like eating much,” the giggles develop into a full-fledged laughter.

“Second,” he doesn’t waste time in adding, “I couldn’t repeat the Kala act of Goreyan Nu Daffa Karo. I had to remind myself always that I am an angrej now.”

Who’s who

Angrej, directed by Simerjit Singh and written by Amberdeep Singh, also stars the great comedian Binnu Dhillon and launches many new faces from the Punjabi music industry and Hindi TV industry. The two leading ladies, Sargun Mehta (of Balika Vadhu fame)and Aditi Sharma (of Mausam and Ladies Vs Ricky Behl fame) and Punjabi singer Ammy Virk of Shehar Chandigarh Diyan Kudiyan, make their debut in the film, apart from many others.

Adds Amrinder, another big challenge was to get the right girls to play the characters. Aditi suited the character of ‘maadon’ so well, it was unbelievable and so did Sargun in her role.”

What Amrinder also describes how the entire team looked for utensils that represented the old Punjab. “We managed to collect a truck full of it,” adds this Angrej, who is so impressed with the naivety of his character. “Since, it is love in the good old era of Punjab, lovers are scared to even touch each other’s hands, And last, but so far not the least,” he makes it a point to mention, “selection of the songs was again a big challenge,” shares Amrinder.

Debut take

Ammy Virk, the Punjabi singer, has an interesting character to play. “Something that you should watch for yourself. The character is me in many ways,” adds Ammy, who took his sweet time to jump into the Punjabi film bandwagon. Unlike other singers, Ammy really waited for the right time. 

“It would be better to say, right role. When I heard the script, and my character, I knew it was worth the wait.” 

“It is actually true without exaggeration that the minute I heard the character, I knew I would be living it very soon,” adds Aditi Sharma, who loved the film, the old world charm and everything else about it.