Bachelor boy meets femme fatale

Gurnaaz Kaur

Diljit Dosanjh and Neeru Bajwa are one of the leading stars of the Punjabi film industry. They are among those who reinvented Punjabi cinema, making it a global phenomenon. As their upcoming film Shadaa is all set to release, this on-screen power couple makes way to Chandigarh to talk about this much-awaited film. 

All praise for the director, Jagdeep  Sidhu, Diljit easily credits his signing of the film to him and the fact that it meant working with Neeru. "Jadgeep paaji and Neeru are the main factors I am doing Shadaa. Everyone appreciated our on-screen chemistry. In fact, I was told that our fans were waiting for another Jatt and Juliet or Sardaarji. So, they will get to watch us together again and another exciting thing is the peppy dialogues by Jagdeep. It's an ideal blend."

Diljit says when it is about working with Neeru, they don't even need to rehearse or discuss the scenes. It's all about coming on the sets and perform spontaneously. "That's the magic of our on-screen pairing."

For Neeru, who was happily nodding with Diljit, it is equally simple, "Amazing director, co-star and producers are the obvious reasons for the great time I had during the shoot."

As Diljit and Neeru are going gaga over the director for coming up with this film, for Jagdeep Sidhu, it was a topic so essential to Punjabi culture, which needed to be brought to the fore. "This term is really old and rooted in our culture. There are so many stories around this word in Punjab. But as a subject for films, it has not been explored much. So, I decided to focus on the lives of those eligible bachelors, their desires, how the society looks at them," he explains.

We may be seeing Diljit after a year in a Punjabi flick. But he has been around on TV and has made a place for himself even in Bollywood. That's him as a celebrity. In person, his answers are mostly monosyllabic; it takes a bit of probing to gather his mantra of wearing so many hats. 

"I just do it. Ok, so, I wake up and get down to work. I don't remain idle." And if he were to pick one as a favourite medium, "Films, music, TV- they are all equally important for me. I started with music, so, that's an essential part of 

my career. Now, when I am a part of TV, I have found out about the massive reach of this medium."

Few things are quite sorted in the mind of this actor, "I am clear that I will do one Punjabi film every year. And I take up Bollywood projects based on the content. It has to be something I relate to." With this he reveals that two of his Bollywood films are releasing this year.

When it comes to future projects, Neeru, too, is ready as a producer with Munda Hi Chahida. We can see she has been selective about work and her reason is only fair. "I am a mother now and my life really revolves around my daughter. For work, I have to travel to India, so whatever is worth my time and for displacing my family for a month is what I do." Motherhood may mean less work but the actress is on cloud nine with this new role. "I love being a mother. I think I have never been this happy and healthy." 

While Neeru doesn't mind talking about her personal life, Diljit wants to keep personal and professional separate. He says he has learnt it the hard way. "Personal and professional life shouldn't be mixed. I developed this approach because I faced a lot of criticism on personal life during my initial days in the career. No one knows where to draw the line. When someone is unhappy with you, they tend to drag your family in it as well. I don't want that. You have the right to say good and bad about me because I am a public figure but not my family," he signs off.

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Star power 

I don't feel that I am a superstar, I am just an artiste doing my work and I appreciate the love I get from the audience.— Diljit Dosanjh

I am a mother now and my life really revolves around my daughter. For work, I have to travel to India, so whatever is worth my time and for displacing my family for a month is what I do.— Neeru Bajwa