Throwing his best punch

Manpriya Singh

It’s a script whose narration has been sitting with Gippy Grewal ever since he did Singh Vs Kaur, the time of the comedy boom in Punjabi cinema when attempting an action film in Pollywood was a risky affair. But isn’t any deviation from the genre of comedy even now an experimental thing to do?

“Not any more. It’s a misconception that more of comedy films do better. That’s also because 100s of comedy films get made. If you look at the ratio, it is a dismal one,” shares Gippy, playing the titular Sandhu in question, during the trailer launch of his next, Ik Sandhu Hunda Si, due for a February 28 release.

But what took him so long is more to do with his personal belief in film-making, which is either to do really well, or don’t attempt at all. “This film entailed a lot of sequences, students, university, elections, rallies and a big budget because of action sequences. We shot action scenes for straight 14 to 15 days,” he says adding how the action director Sham Kaushal hasn’t been wasted in clichéd punches in the film otherwise directed by Rakesh Mehta.

“If a film entails a budget of Rs 100 crore, you can’t do justice to it in Rs 5 crores.” The other thing that dictates his choice of scripts is content not the genre. “There are only two types of cinema, good cinema and bad cinema. Plus I have tried my hands at literally everything, from a web series to a Jatt James Bond to Ardaas Karan. Even though in the process I had to deliver 15 to 16 flops,” trust him to be both candid and humble.

Especially after the ban of Shooter, the action genre is battling its own demons even though it’s not an un-attempted one in other industries. “It’s an action film but at the same time this is not a violent film and there is a difference between the two.”

Prince charming, this one

Joining the Sandhu onscreen is Roshan Prince. “Ik Sandhu de naal ik Gill we hunda si,” he introduces his character, calling it pivotal. “The only thing is that I don’t have a heroine to romance in this one,” he laughs, having said that, “There’s no character big or small,” he says of his transition of playing the lead and at the same time the hero’s friend before. “With Gippy Grewal, I did Lucky Di Unlucky Story as a parallel lead and at the same time another film, Mamla Gadbad Hai, as the solo lead. So, this transition of playing the hero’s friend to a leading man has happened before.”

Personally speaking, the character was a new experience because going back to his university days as a music student, he was far from politics. “I have done double MA, which includes a degree in music from Delhi University and we never had the time to go anywhere other than the department or do anything other than practice music.”

All for Gippy

Joining the onscreen jodi of Gill and Sandhu is a telling cast comprising Vikramjeet Singh Virk, Babbal Rai, Raghveer Boli, Dheeraj Kumar. Which leaves us questioning the role of the leading lady. In majority of the films, the girl doesn’t get to do much, all the more true of action films. Neha Sharma, the leading lady, didn’t really give her nod to the script, she went in straight for her co-star. “I have wanted to do a Punjabi film since Yamla Pagla Deewana. When the director called me for the film, he said Gippy was working opposite me, so I said yes and I didn’t even hear the story.”