Actor Minissha Lamba gets ready for her first Punjabi film Heer & Hero
For Minissha Lamba,it is a homecoming of sorts. Punjabi is her mother tongue and this is one of the primary reasons she signed on her first Punjabi film,Heer & Hero. But there is more to it. Honestly,when Sagar Sharma,the films director,approached me for a narration,I was expecting the usual. What I didnt expect was that the story would be such a rib-tickler. It is so funny that I fell off my chair laughing,and thats the moment I decided to say yes, says Lamba.
In Chandigarh with the films cast,which also includes Gurpreet Ghuggi,Arya Babbar and Preet Bhullar,Lamba is busy with the month-long shooting schedule. Having established names such as Ghuggi and Babbar on board made the decision easier for Lamba. Also,Ive always wanted to do a romcom and have never been offered one in Bollywood. I am amazed why such a film has not been made in Hindi, she says.
Punjabi as a language,she says,has so much personality and life. It has so much expression in it,and we still have to exploit and explore so much humour and emotion through it. Its a language that can infuse life into the dullest of subjects, she says. Of course,it is the content and story that ultimately drives the film,and Lamba assures that Heer & Hero is not the typical cliched romcom.
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Another reason why she is part of the project is because of the meteoric rise the Punjabi industry has seen in the last four years. My family,although Punjabis living in Delhi,have never watched a Punjabi film. But they recommended to me Jatt & Juliet for here was a film that captured an entire spectrum of audiences and thats the beauty of this cinema. It is reaching out to all age groups and sections of the society, she says.
A voracious reader who had dreams of becoming a journalist,Lamba always keeps track of the news. Bollywood is already remaking South Indian films. Punjabi films,too,have captured the interest of Hindi film industry,since Hindi and Punjabi are sister languages and it only multiplies the audience base and widens the market, says Lamba.
Now that she is a part of a Punjabi film,the actor is making sure she gets her diction right. If you want to learn a language,interact with the locals. I did that during Well Done Abba where I learnt the Dakhani language with that Hyderabadi slang. For Punjabi,I have my chauffeur who drives me to the sets. I urge him to interact with me in Punjabi, she says.
On the Bollywood front,she is looking forward to Black Currency with Nawazuddin Siddiqui. A film on black money its nexus,corruption,CBI and R&AW its a spy thriller where Lamba plays an undercover intelligence officer. Its an amazing film and I get to play this undercover agent, she says,mentioning the roles of Claire Danes as a CIA agent in the Homeland series on Star World and Jessica Chastains role in Zero Dark Thirty. Indian television and cinema,too,will evolve, she says.
She says she is not perturbed by the outcome of Zila Ghaziabad in which she played a village belle. When you have three main male characters,the female role usually get axed while editing, she says. But thats history. Right now,she is planning to catch up on films and television series on her laptop,and read a bit. Of course,for most part of the day,shooting for Heer & Hero is keeping her busy.
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