National Award-winning director Anurag Singh is among the notable voices in Indian cinema today. In a recent interview with Gallata Plus, the filmmaker revealed that Punjab 1984 was actually the first film he wanted to make, but the project initially struggled to find backing before it eventually materialised.
Singh said, “To tell you the truth, Punjab 1984 was actually the first film I wanted to make, even before Jatt & Juliet. But at that time I was new and nobody wanted to invest in a subject like that. So I started with Yaar Annmulle with newcomers, which became a huge hit. Then I moved on to Jatt & Juliet, which broke a lot of barriers because nobody expected a Punjabi film to do that kind of business or attract non-Punjabi speaking audiences.”
He added, “It opened doors and proved that Punjabi cinema had the potential to perform at the box office beyond Punjab. Once I had that credibility, after Jatt & Juliet 2, I told my producers that I wanted to make Punjab 1984. They were hesitant because they felt audiences knew me for rom-coms and comedies and didn’t want to revisit such a difficult period in Punjab’s history.”
The eventual making of Punjab 1984 with Diljit Dosanjh went on to prove Anurag Singh’s conviction as a filmmaker. “But I insisted, and Diljit Dosanjh stood by me and said he wanted to do the film as well. Eventually the producers backed the project, and when Punjab 1984 was released, it opened to the biggest opening ever for a Punjabi film at that time, something nobody had expected for a film on such a subject,” revealed the director.
Punjab 1984 was not only a historic success at the box office, but it also became one of the best-reviewed Punjabi films of all time. One of the reviews described Singh as a creative genius who knows how to astutely navigate the thin line between art and commerce, creating cinema that has the critics applauding and audiences rushing to the theatres.
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