The Pretty Ones

Looking ravishing in her magenta and gold ensemble,and her signature tresses,actor Poonam Dhillon was making a glamourous statement to promote her debut Punjabi film Double di Trouble at Monica’s Kitchen & Kafe,Elante Mall. “It’s been 20 years since I spoke such chaste Punjabi,” says Dhillon,who is originally from Chandigarh and has been cast opposite Dharmendra in the comedy. Acknowledging the reach of the Punjabi film industry,she admits she should have acted in a film much earlier. Now that she’s got a taste of it,Dhillon doesn’t mind producing a Punjabi film,which is “light hearted and the content is not slapstick,but clean comedy.” Dhillon will also be seen in a new TV show titled Ek Nayee Pehchaan on Sony.

Loosely based on the film,English Vinglish,the show features Dhillon as a Gujarati housewife who learns how to read and write from her daughter-in-law,and in the process finds her own voice. Last seen on TV as a strong contestant on Bigg Boss,Dhillon says her two kids kept her busy and in the process,she refused about 30 shows. “Television is all about deadlines. You can’t travel,can’t fall sick,the hours are long and demanding,and I my kids were growing up,so I chose to decline the offers,” she says. But she learnt to keep herself busy on the side,running a vanity van business for actors on the sets and even started a social networking platform exclusively for residents of Chandigarh to connect,called http://www.chandigarhwallas.com. “I have to get back to it and revive it. There are so many people from Chandigarh who’re settled across the globe and this is one place they can meet,” adds Dhillon.

On the other hand,Randhawa makes a comeback to Punjabi films with Double di Trouble opposite Gippy Grewal. “I met Gippy during the shooting of my Punjabi film Tera Mera Ki Rishta,and I am impressed with his career graph,” says Randhawa,who was last seen in Yamla Pagla Deewana and at present is in talks with filmmaker Anubhav Sinha. “I’m very choosy and lazy as an actor,and I feel to make it to the A list,one needs some fire. But I get very subjective. Like,I was offered the role of Jatt & Juliet,but I refused because I didn’t want to do a Punjabi film with someone new,” she says.

Although Punjabi films are working,she feels the industry needs a balance of all subjects. “Be it any film industry,directors are also driven by the producers ‘hero bikta ha’ demand. But they forget that he is incomplete without a female actor,” says Randhawa,adding how producers have offered her Punjabi versions of Mr & Mrs Smith and Charlie’s Angels in the past. While she is reading scripts,Randhawa’s been dabbling with writing a book on the theme of metaphysics. “It came as a vision to me. It’s a simple story with a message and I will be out with it soon,” she adds.