Rock 145;n146; Roll Soniye

They are extras who specialise in Punjabi wedding scenes. And with gida and bhangra gaining ground in tinseltown, these performers from Punjab find themselves much in demand on the sets

MADHU SHARMA IS A MARRIAGE specialist. She knows how to fit into weddings. All she needs is a paid in-vite. To lend to the atmosphere, she8217;ll play the dholak and sing tradi-tional Punjabi songs. An 8216;extra8217; in the world of cinema and television, Sharma is often called onto the sets of North Indian shaadis as an artiste who will bring the Punjabi flavour with her tapa and gida.

Given the spurt of the 8216;soaps8217; and the penchant of its characters to marry and marry again, Sharma, who has been in the business for the last seven to eight years, is get-ting busier by the day.

She8217;s already done her bit for In-dia Calling, Nimmo Ka Kya Hoga, and Kavyaanjali. 8216;8216;I have done some five to six serials in the last two months. The forthcoming Akhiyon Ke Jharokon Se has a Marwari marriage, so I even have a different costume,8217;8217; she says.

Otherwise, the 39-year-old relies on her own modest collection of 8216;8216;eight to ten party suits8217;8217; for the job. For Sharma, the few extra thou- sands anything between Rs 700 to 1,500 per shift from her work as a shaadi artiste are crucial.

But not so for not Gurvinder Kaur. Her deal with being a shaadi artiste, beginning with the serial Khichdi, is about stepping out of the confines of home and doing some-thing interesting. 8216;8216;It8217;s good to keep busy,8217;8217; she says.

8216;8216;People enjoy watching and dis-cussing Punjabi rituals and cus- toms,8217;8217; says Narinder Kaur, another one of the tribe, explaining their growing popularity. 8216;8216;Earlier, when I8217;d go back home to Jalandhar, peo-ple would be a little dismissive. To-day, they are curious,8217;8217; she adds. Narinder, married to a truck opera-tor, has also bagged some cooking oil advertisements targetted at the Punjabi diaspora abroad.

For most of these women com-ing from traditional Punjabi homes, the work is also about that personal space and goal.

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Increasing work has sown the seeds of a greater ambition with them. Each wouldn8217;t mind a try at being bhabhi, badi behen or maa. 8216;8216;When a main character actor struggles with her lines, I feel like jumping in. I am sure my chance will come one day,8217;8217; says Sharma. Till then, there are always fairy-tale weddings to fall back upon!