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Harjit Ricky has played the opening scene of his first Punjabi commercial feature film,Sirphire,a thousand times in his head.

Harjit Ricky has played the opening scene of his first Punjabi commercial feature film,Sirphire,a thousand times in his head. The cameras will be set at a wide angle,lending a panoramic view of the city of Chandigarh. Then,it will zoom in on a billboard that reads Welcome to Chandigarh,followed by a quick succession of shots hustle-bustle at the railway station,serpentile queues at the bus stop,bumper-to-bumper traffic,adrenaline rush at the Panjab University,a lush green canopy of the trees against the cool calm of the Sukhna Lake. An actor and a director,Ricky has his frames in order.

I want Chandigarh to be showcased as a confluence for the states of Punjab,Haryana and Himachal. Its a city where students from the region come to study,to further their careers,to make a life and enjoy it thoroughly, says Ricky.

Starring Priyanshu Chatterjee,Monica Bedi,Preet Harpal,Gurleen Chopra and Roshan Prince as college friends,Sirphire is a story about these aimless youth whose sole purpose in life is mauj-masti,until one day when a terrible life-altering tragedy changes everything forever. Its more of a reality check, says Ricky,who has made documentaries on the Sikh history. Inspired by events that took place during his college days,Ricky shares how he lost a friend to drunken driving and that episode changed him. To be made on a Rs 2 crore budget,the film hits the floors tomorrow morning and is slated for release in January 2012.

Rickys not the only one debuting with this film. For Chatterjee and Bedi as well,this is their first Punjabi film. Ive done films in Nepalese,Tamil,Bengali and now its my mother tongue,Punjabi, says Bedi.

For Chatterjee,who has been a prominent actor in Bengali cinema since 2005,it was the story of Sirphire that got him on board. Weve all done crazy things in college,and through this film,I get to relive all of that, he says. But isnt it too late to play a college boy? No,Aamir Khan has already set the benchmark, he quips.

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