Surkhi Bindi, the Punjabi film, revolves around a young Sargun Mehta dreaming of her prince charming, but reality turns out to be completely different.
After marriage, Sargun’s character feels that her dreams of moving to Canada will never happen and maintains distance from her husband.
But on the other hand, Gurnam Bhullar who plays her husband seems determined to fulfil her dreams.
As such, Bhullar describes his character to be ‘a very ordinary guy, a gentleman, who lives in a village’ and ‘has small dreams’.
Usually, films begin with ‘love angles’, but this begins with a ‘marriage angle’ and focuses on the romance of a married couple.
But more than anything, it’s quite special for Punjabi cinema as usually, we see a man trying to woo a girl in the ‘pind’, but here we get to see a progressive side to masculinity.
Speaking on this refreshing aspect, Gurnam says:
“I hope that every man watches this movie. We men generally can be quite selfish and self-centred, which is a big problem in our society.
The film’s concept has exceeded Punjab and is now on a national level. The movie is a wholesome entertainer but at the same time carries an important message.”
As for Gurnam himself, this is the first time he works with Sargun Mehta and he had great camaraderie with her. He reflects:
“Sargun is a very good and experienced artist. She has done a lot of work on television as well as films so it was a great honour to work with her.
She kept me comfortable on set and I never felt as though this is my second film. Sargun always gave me that respect as an actor.
Above all, our director Jagdeep Sidhu created a very pleasant atmosphere on set and so we could live our characters… Especially whilst living the village lifestyle. We completely lost ourselves.”
Gurnam has been on a successful streak. His single Diamond has done tremendously well on YouTube.Â
Furthermore, his feature film debut in Guddiyan Patole emerged as a critical and commercial success.
He has entered the industry during a good time where there is a bridge between Indian regional cinema and the commercial space.Â
Here’s what he thinks of Punjabi cinema and Indian regional cinema’s revival:
“Basically, I feel that national cinema is actually a part of the regional one. But now that regional cinema is coming forward – members of that fraternity are getting more opportunities.
The most amazing thing about regional cinema is that the industry is bringing their languages and cultures to the forefront.Â
Plus, there are so many actors who never received much work. But now that regional cinema has grown and is growing, more budding actors are gaining prominence.”
He adds:
“Every weekend Punjabi films are releasing. Employment and opportunities are given to new actors to showcase their talent.
Now, there is that possibility of exhibiting that talent on a more mainstream level.”
Directed by Jagdeep Sidhu and written by Rupinder Inderjit, Surkhi Bindi releases in cinemas on 30th August 2019.
It is distributed by Zee Studios International.
Watch the trailer of Surkhi Bindi here:
