PUNJABI ANTENNA
Artistes in the fast lane
Randeep Wadehra

IT is not often that one comes across a female artiste who has worked for four decades in Punjabi theatre, films and television and is still going strong. The much-acclaimed actor Jaswant Daman is one such. She has acted in more than 50 plays — original or adaptations — by such writers/playwrights as Dostoyevsky, Brecht, Tagore, Balwant Gargi, Bhisham Sahni, Sant Singh Sekhon etc. She has also acted in nearly 25 Punjabi, Hindi and English films, telefilms and TV serials directed by such big guns as B.R.Chopra, J. Om Prakash, Pamela Rooks, Ravinder Peepat, and Vipul Shah. Her recent Punjabi movies are Babal Da Vehra and Mitti Waajan Maardi. Her other notable movies are Namaste London, Train to Pakistan, Guru Maanyo Granth, Asan nu maan watana da, Mela and Baghi.

It is like reinforcing an age-old trend that had weakened considerably for a couple of decades. One is talking of singer-actors starring in Punjabi flicks. Nowadays, singing stars are no more content with only being heard. They want to be seen on the big screen too; doesn’t matter whether they appear in cameos (item songs) or lead roles. Some of the renowned names from the past as well as the present, who have featured in item songs on the big screen are Labh Janjua, Narinder Biba, Kuldip Manak, Mohd. Sadiq, Ranjit Kaur, Gurcharan Kohli, Hans Raj Hans, Surinder Shinda, Surjit Bindrakhiya and Dilshaad Akhtar.

In this category two couples feature prominently, viz., K. Deep-Jagmohan Kaur in the past and Sardool Sikander-Noori today. Among today’s singing stars who are busy with various film shootings figure such names as Gurdas Mann in Yaariyan (with Bhoomika Chawla and Om Puri), Baali Sagoo opposite Priti Jhingiani in Sajna Ve Sajna, Babbu Mann opposite Gurleen in Hashar, Harbhajan Mann in a film by Manmohan Singh, Gursewak Mann in Gabroo Punjab De and Watano Door, Roshan Prince in a film being made by the National Award winning director Sukhwinder Dhanjal, Sarabjit Cheema opposite Mona ‘Jassi’ Singh in Apni Boli Apna Desh (directed by Ravinder Peepat and written by Vijay Tandon), and Malkit Singh in Babul da Vehra. Other singers in the race for filmy stardom are Amarinder Gill, Jassi Gurdaspuria, Raj Brar, Sunny Cheema and Mika.

This tells us something about the emerging trends in the Punjabi entertainment industry. While most of the regional cine-artistes make their debut on television or music videos, they hotfoot it to film production houses for carving out a more stable and lucrative career for themselves. Is there a message in it for those at the helm of various Punjabi channels?

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