Dancing away to glory

Jasmine Singh

Without a single day of promotion, even without a trailer launch till the last minute, Amrinder Gill-starrer Ashke manages to pull in crowds, and make them enjoy Bhangra. 

Written by Dheeraj Rattan, Ashke is a beautiful story that revolves around Bhangra and how it breaks and makes relations. If you are bracing yourself for yet another dance film, well, Ashke falls nowhere in this bracket. When it is an Amrinder Gill film, one can trust it to be loaded with content, emotion, songs, subtle romance, subtle friction, and Ashke has all these in a balanced manner.

Somewhere here and there, the film comes across half-baked; a little more temperature and it would have been at its crispiest best! But even without it, this is a film that can truly be called a family entertainer.

Directed by Amberdeep Singh who has worked with Amrinder Gill in many projects, Ashke seems to be driven by one man, Amrinder Gill.

The film is neither stretched nor boring; it has easy and flowing rhythm which sits easy on your mind and heart. Since the film revolves around Bhangra, it has vibrancy too. The film has subtle humour, which goes with the pace of the film.

Ashke clearly is an Amrinder Gill film, the actor has an easy and light-hearted charm, which shows in his character Pamma. The alumni of Khalsa College, Amritsar, definitely have a lot to thank Ashke and Amrinder Gill. The actor does not make any extra effort to sound funny or emotional, it comes pretty naturally. Television actress Sanjeeda Shaikh makes her debut with Ashke, not only does she look like she belongs to the industry, her face does conjure up many emotions. She might have to work on her diction, so that either she can dub in her voice, or a better dubbing artiste can be hired.

Jaswinder Bhalla and Hobby Dhaliwal justify their role of Bhangra coach. Hardeep Gill creates an impact in a small yet interesting role. It is a delight to see singer-actor Sarabjit Cheema on screen after a long time, and a role like this does suit his image. Vandana Chopra, Avi Randhawa and Roopi Gill too have done a great job in the film. 

After a long time one is happy to see two actors in a special appearance, this is because no extra effort is made to make them look special.  Jatinder Shah’s music is commendable, and so is the song Handsome Jatta sung by Jordan Sandhu. 

Bhangra is a vital part of Punjabi culture, it a vital part of youth festivals too, and it is this realisation that Ashke brings in! 

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