Sonam Bajwa says she refused Bollywood films as she didn’t want to kiss on screen: ‘Is my family going to understand?’

“I said no to a couple of things in Bollywood because I was like, ‘Is Punjab going to be OK with it?'” Sonam said. She continued, “We have that mentality, that families will be watching… I was very scared to do a kissing scene in a film back then, because I thought, ‘How are people going to respond to it, how will these people, who’ve made me who I am, respond to it? Is my family going to understand that this is for a film?’ I had all these questions in my mind.”

Sonam said that in hindsight, she should’ve probably given it some more thought before turning those projects down. “It was a couple of years ago, I spoke to my mom and dad about it. They were like, ‘Yes, if it’s for a film, it’s fine’. And I was so shocked. Why did I not speak to them first? So many things we assume in our head. I was so shy to discuss this with my parents, and they were like, ‘Koi nahi, je film liya, koi chakkar ni (It’s for a film, there’s no problem)’.”

Sonam said that she can see Punjabi audiences also evolving, but the primary audience remains families. She said that this has prevented the Punjabi industry from experimenting with genres, and can be frustrating for actors wanting to do different things.