Bollywood Calling

Punjabi superstar Kartaar Cheema makes his way into Bollywood with 'Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya'.

Launch vehicle

I debut with the romantic comedy Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya. The film starts with my wedding scene. I am getting married to Genelia DSouza but when she runs away with Riteish,my character turns negative. I chase her with a gun. In the film,I will be seen as a typical,rowdy Punjabi munda.

Casting coup

Mandeep Kumar,the director of the film,is a very good friend of mine. He has done quite a few Punjabi films. Since I am already a well known actor in Punjab,he was sure about casting me for this part and I did not even have to give any auditions.

Stepping-stone

Though I come from a family of farmers,it was my childhood dream to be an actor. I enrolled for a Masters degree in the Theatre and Television acting course from Punjab University. When I completed the course,the entertainment scenario there was evolving and music videos were in fashion. I got my first break in a music video where my work was highly appreciated,after which I got several film offers which I did and won some awards too.

First Shot

My first scene was with Genelia. She takes me to a farm house where we compete in target shooting. For me,all the scenes,right from the first one,went off smoothly. I was appreciated a lot by the team.

Stumbling block

There was one particular scene where I was supposed to drive a jeep in full speed with my friends standing behind me. I had to apply brakes while the jeep was speeding up. It was a very difficult shot. Once I applied brakes so hard that the people standing behind flew over the jeep and fell in the front. It was really funny. We had to re-shoot that scene many times to get a perfect shot.

Lesson learnt

The lesson that I learnt after shooting for Tere Naal … was that one should let go of ones ego. This I learnt from Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia. Despite being in the industry for so many years,they did not make me feel like an outsider. It was a very friendly and pleasant atmosphere on the sets all the time.

Matinee idol

My matinee idol is Naseeruddin Shah.

Future projects

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When I was shooting for Tere Naal … ,I bagged my second Bollywood project. Titled Soni De Nakhre,it is a romantic film opposite Sheena,daughter of yesteryear actress Sadhana Singh. After that,I will be doing two Punjabi films,post which I am planning to shift base to Mumbai to concentrate on Hindi films.

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