Singer-turned-actor Diljit Dosanjh tells Ayushi Sharma that despite being a natural in front of the camera, he is reserved
It took a few hours before I finally got my turn to interview singer-turned-actor Diljit Dosanjh. As I walked towards him, he seemed to be busy or rather pretended to be engrossed in his phone. Even when I sat, his eyes were constantly moving as if he was looking for somebody or may be he was deliberately trying to avoid an eye-contact. It is fascinating to observe human behaviour and there was something about the actor too, which I noticed as a result. He is intimidated when he feels he is under interrogation. He too agreed and said, “I am a bit reserved but it’s only with girls. I hold myself back. And I think, there is nothing wrong with that. Aisa hi hona chahiye. However, if some girl would try and talk to me, I wouldn’t ignore her. Aisa thodi muh fer lunga (laughs).”
The actor is all set for his latest venture Arjun Patiala, which is the story of a quirky small-town cop, who is fond of women and even more of his drinks. His original and unusual ideas help in reducing the crime rate in the town.
The actor’s carefree and effortless nature is a proof that he doesn’t really think too long about things. His organic and natural approach towards everything is evident in his breezy and relaxed nature. When asked about what does he think about the increasing crime rate in our society? Or if anything could be done to reduce it? Without putting much of an effort, Dosanjh responded quite candidly, “If the ones who have the responsibility and authority to make or break the law aren’t doing anything to smoothen that path, then who am I as an actor to comment upon it? We can just simply talk about it but does it really help?”
Even though he’s a huge Bollywood star now, his simplicity and the aura that naturally comes to him, speaks it all. Recently, Dosanjh said that he wishes to see a different portrayal of ‘sardars’ in Bollywood. Ask him about what he thinks about the cliched portrayal of turbans in films, he said, “Initially, even in Punjabi films, no heroes with turbans were shown. It was believed that the film wouldn’t turn out well if there’s a hero with a turban. When I started working in the Hindi film industry, the producers used to tell me the same thing. Whenever my friends and I watched any Hindi film, the characters would either be doing balley balley or some such obnoxious thing that could be equated with Sikhs. We always questioned as to who even does that? Ladkiyan kheton ke pass parande ghuma rahi hai (Women whirl their false plaits near fields). This is completely foolish. And the same is the case with the people of South. The stereotypical ‘Aayio rama.’ It’s not right. It’s hurtful, especially, when there’s so much of the community that could be reflected through a film. However, I am glad that things have changed with time. The film industry has been become more sensitive towards everything now. And the subjects are being taken more seriously.”
So is there a connect to the theme that made him say yes to do the film? Well, not really. The singer agreed to do the film merely because of the writer of the film, Ritesh Shah. “He is so good.” He even picked up his phone to Google some of the films that Shah had written. He pointed out, “Pink, Airlift, Kahaani, Raid... see. He has written all the serious stuff and it has worked brilliantly. I can easily recall when he called to discuss what he was writing this time. And I realised ki ek mudde vali kahaani firse aagayi hai (a film with an issue has come up yet again). But I was taken aback when he told he has tried his hands at comedy this time. However, his work speaks.”
The Soorma actor has no specific criteria for selecting his scripts. Here, too, Dosanjh had a very casual approach. He said, “I just want the people that I am working with to be good. That’s all I need to say yes to a film. I never thought of box-office numbers, genre or even the budget. I am good with everything that comes my way. I never even thought of exploring different genres because I think, mujhe karni ho or logo ko dekhni na ho (If I want to do it but people do not want to see it) so what’s the point?”
Asked Dosanjh if he faced any challenges here? He again had a very blunt response, “Nahi ji, mujhe to koi challenge nahi laga (I did not find it to be a challenge). I feel work should be treated as work. Kisi ko kabhi bhi kuch bi karna pad skta hai (Anyone might have to do anything at any time). And I think mine is much easier than the labourers who work in construction buildings.”
Photo: Pankaj Kumar
