Popular Punjabi directors and their Bollywood movies

On one hand, where Punjabi actors and singer are gradually shifting to Bollywood movies, the Pollywood directors have already tried their hand in the respective genre. Not a lot of people know that popular Punjabi directors have done a couple of Hindi movies that turned heads. In fact, a lot of Punjabi directors made their debut in the field of direction via Hindi movies. Read on to know more:

Amitoj Maan made his debut in the Punjabi film industry as an actor in 1995 with ‘Naseebo’. Later he directed two Bollywood movies ‘Hawayein’ in 2003 and ‘Kaafila’ in 2007. Besides directing Amitoj acted in both of these movies and worked on their story as well as the screenplay. Both the movies were based on sensitive issues. ‘Hawayein’ chronicled the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination, while ‘Kaafila’ revolved around illegal immigration. The former did a good business at the box office, but the later one comparatively didn’t receive much success. Thereafter, Amitoj directed two Punjabi movies ‘Hanni’ and ‘Gaddar The Traitor’.

Just like Amitoj Maan, Anurag Singh also started his directing career with Bollywood projects. Another striking similarity is that Anurag also made two Hindi movies. His debut Bollywood directorial was ‘Raqeeb’ starring Rahul Khanna, Jimmy Sheirgill, Sharman Joshi, Tanushree Dutta, Vishwajeet Pradhan and Vivek Shauq. It was an action-thriller which got a mixed response from the critics. The second directorial by him was ‘Dil Bole Hadippa’, featuring Shahid Kapoor and Rani Mukerji in the lead. Thereafter Anurag shifted to Pollywood and gave one after another hit Punjabi movie like ‘Yaar Anmulle’, ‘Jatt & Juliet’ and ‘Punjabi 1984’.

Before venturing into the field of direction, Smeep Kang worked as an actor in Hindi and Punjabi cinema. Even after donning the director's hat, he kept on doing cameos. Smeep has directed only one Bollywood movie so far, ‘Second Hand Husband’ in 2105. It was a comedy movie having Gippy Grewal, Tina Ahuja and Dharmendra in lead. The movie marked the Bollywood debut of both Punjabi singer-actor Gippy Grewal and Tina Ahuja.

Simerjit Singh is one of the prominent names in the field of Punjabi filmmaking. The man has directed some of the really hit movies like ‘Nikka Zaildar’, ‘Nikka Zaildar 2’ and ‘Angrej’. In Bollywood Simerjit Singh worked as an assistant director for a couple of projects. His debut work in B-town as assistant director was ‘Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha’, which released in 1998. Thereafter, he did ‘Raju Chacha’ in 2000 and ‘Zameen’ in 2003.

Rohit Jugraj also started his journey as an assistant director. He gave two Hindi movies as assistant director, ‘Kehta Hai Dil Baar Baar’, which was a romantic drama and ‘Bhoot’, a horror film. As director, his debut movie was an action thriller, titled ‘James’. His last Bollywood movie as a director was ‘Superstar’. Rohit also worked on the screenplay of the film. His next Bollywood directorial is 'Arjun Patiala', featuring Diljit Dosanjh and Kriti Sanon.