2018: The year of Punjabis in Bollywood

Diljit Dosanjh is one of the most famous Punjabi artists who is making a big name in Bollywood. Right from his B-town debut in 2016 till date, Diljit Dosanjh has worked in five movies, out of which one is yet to be released. And now is shooting for his sixth Hindi film ‘Good News’. The shoot went on the floors yesterday, and Diljit Dosanjh along with his co-star Kiara Advani posed with the clapboard initially. Thereafter, Diljit Dosanjh, Kiara Advani and the director Raj Mehta came together and striked a pose for the camera. Wearing their best smiles, the team looked really happy that the shooting scheduled has kick started.

Bankrolled by Karan Johar, ‘Good News’ has Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor in the lead and Diljit Dosanjh and Kiara Advani in significant roles. Diljit and Kiara began the shooting yesterday without Bebo and Akki. However, the two will be joining the sets soon. Coming from the genre of light hearted family entertainer, the movie will be releasing on 19 July, 2019.

Jassie Gill recently made news by releasing his highly anticipated collaboration with Neha Kakkar, ‘Nikle Currant’. While the audience is still in the hang of the same, the singer-actor shared his new look for the movie ‘Panga’ and added more to the buzz. The actor is sporting a proper mustache with really light stubble around. Also, the hairstyle is also a tad different from what the audience is used to see.

Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, ‘Panga’ will be portraying the value of a family. It conveys a message that if you have the support of your family, there’s nothing in the world that you can’t achieve.

This is the second Hindi movie of Jassie Gill, after the success of ‘Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi’. He will be sharing the screen space with Kangana Ranaut in the movie. Releasing next year, the film will also star Neena Gupta.

After making a successful entry into Bollywood with ‘Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi’, Jassie Gill has got onboard for another Hindi project ‘Panga’. The movie will have him opposite Kangana Ranaut, and Jassie’s looks and character will be different from his debut Bollywood film.

In a recent candid interview with ETimes, Jassie said, “This time it will be a different role, in ‘Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi’ my character was of a Punjabi guy having roots from Punjab. Herein you will get to see me speaking in Hindi more. I will not be having a turbanator look in this.” He also added, "With ‘Panga’ I can show my versatility on the big screen."

Talking about the movie Jassie said that his second Bollywood project is a family centric movie. The emotions that his character carries are somewhere similar to what the artist feels in real life also; and thus, can connect on a personal ground.

Punjabi actress Monica Gill is ready to hit the big screen with her second Bollywood movie ‘Paltan’. The movie will be released on 7 September 2018 and will feature Monica Gill romancing Harshvardhan Rane. The J.P. Dutta directorial is a ’war drama chronicling the India-China battle of 1967. Monica Gill in her exclusive conversation with TimesOfIndia.com said that it was a dream come true for her to work with JP Dutta.

Monica Gill said, “JP Dutta is a name everyone knows not just in India but overseas. I remember when I was at my cousin's wedding back at my home and talked about JP sir’s film that I am doing, everybody was in awe. It’s very rare for somebody to have this sort of influence over a community and JP sir has it.”

Elaborating further on her character, Monica Gill said that the kind of Punjabi girl she is playing in ‘Paltan’, is way different from the roles she has essayed in Pollywood. What she is bringing on the table with ‘Paltan’ is a sweet, innocent Punjabi village girl. On the other hand, in Punjabi cinema so far the actress has only done characters that had some urban touch to them.

From Diljit Dosanjh’s Bollywood projects to Jassie Gill’s B-town debut, the year 2018 seems to be really booked for Punjabi celebrities. On one hand, we have some artists making their way into the Bollywood’s acting lane, while a few others have been giving vocals to the songs of some of the much awaited Hindi films. Thus, it would not be wrong to put that 2018 is the year of Punjabis in Bollywood. Read on to get more details about the same:

The Pollywood industry swears by the comic timing of the ‘Vadhayiyaan Ji Vadhayiyaan’ fame Binnu Dhillon, and soon even Bollywood will. Binnu Dhillon is featuring in of 2018’s much-awaited comedy flick ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se’. The trailer of the same is out and it shows Binnu tickling the funny bones with his perfect comic timing. This is not the first time Binnu is being a part of Hindi film. He made his way to Bollywood in 2002 with ‘Shaheed-E-Azam’ and later was also seen playing a role in Anurag Kashyap's ‘Dev D’.

On one hand, where the reports of Ammy being a part of Bollywood project is doing rounds, the Punjabi singer-actor made his b-town playback debut. Recently with the song, ‘Daryaa’ from the movie ‘Manmarziyaan’ Ammy Virk marked his singing debut in Bollywood. The song is a soulful Punjabi love ballad that tugged at the heartstrings in no time. For the track, Ammy Virk shared vocals with Indian playback singer Shahid Mallaya.

‘Soorma’ is Diljit Dosanjh’s second Bollywood movie for the year. The film is based on the real-life story of an Indian hockey player Sandeep Singh. The player was one of the leading sportspeople on his time but was wheelchaired for two years after an accidental gunshot injured him in 2006. The movie is about how he fought all the odds and made it back on the field.

Post ‘Soorma’ Diljit will hit the screens with ‘Arjun Patiala’. Slated to release on September 13, the movie will feature Diljit in a funny character. Though in Pollywood the actor has already aced in the genre of comedy, in Bollywood he hasn’t got much of a chance to bring the comic side out. Perhaps with ‘Arjun Patiala’, one more thing will be ticked out of his bucket list. The movie will have Diljit Dosanjh, Kriti Sanon and Varun Sharma in the lead.

Punjabi actress Isha Rikhi just made her Bollywood debut with the movie ‘Nawabzaade'. The actress was last seen in Gippy Grewal’s directorial ‘Ardas’. In ‘Nawabzaade’ Isha played the role of a girl next door, whose beauty and innocence made the three friends fall her. The role of those three friends has been essayed by Raghav Juyal, Puneet Pathak and Dharmesh Yelande. The Remo D’Souza directorial released on 27th July.

Singer-actor Jassie Gill who has been stealing hearts ever since he stepped into the field of Punjabi entertainment is all set to be tagged as a Bollywood heartthrob. Jassie will soon be seen in his debut Hindi movie ‘Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi’. Playing the role of a turbanator immigration officer, Jassie is playing the lead opposite Sonakshi Sinha. Besides Jassie and Sonakshi, the stellar cast of the movie includes Jimmy Sheirgill, Piyush Mishra, Ali Fazal and Diana Panty. The film will hit the theatres on 24th August.

On one hand, where ‘Nawabzaade’ stands as the first Hindi film for Isha Rikhi, on the other, the movie has provided the Punjabi singer Sunanda Sharma her debut Bollywood song ‘Tere Naal Nachna’. The song is a proper party number with peppy lyrics and upbeat music. Composed and written by the one and only Badshah, the song feature him, Athiya Shetty, Raghav Juyal, Puneet Pathak and Dharmesh Yelande shaking a leg. The song has been recently released and Sunanda's vocals have been really lauded by all.

It seems like director Remo D’ Souza has been following the Punjabi entertainment industry for quite some time. Thus, apart from roping in Punjabi divas for acting and singing, he got the ‘High Rated Gabru’ Guru Randhawa on board. The internet was recently hit by the revamped version of Randhawa’s hit song ‘High Rated Gabru’ that featured Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor Raghav Juyal, Puneet Pathak and Dharmesh Yelande.

Before ‘Nawabzaade’, it was April released ‘Blackmail’ that featured one of Guru Randhawa’s blockbusters ‘Patola’. And the list doesn’t end here; besides launching his already hit songs, Guru made ‘Kaun Nachdi’ for ‘Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety’ and ‘Nachle Na’ for ‘Junglee’.

Besides Sunanda Sharma, it is the ‘Soch’ fame Harrdy Sandhu who made a singing debut in Bollywood this year. The singer recorded the song 'Little Little for the hysterical movie ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se’. The track is a party starter that opens with Harrdy hiting the dance floor, following by the lead cast shaking a leg.

Featuring the Deol men - Dharmendra, Sunny and Bobby, the movie is a threequel of 2012 released ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana’.