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Mona
While for most aiming to make a mark in acting, theatre is just a step to films but this wasn’t Hardeep Gill’s intention to begin with. Close to three decades, Hardeep has been associated with the stage; he sure has branched out into TV and films. You saw him as the father fighting against injustice in the much-acclaimed Punjabi film Nabar, and he will now be seen in the upcoming films Lali Thag and Soch the Thinking at the beginning of the coming year. The man who is still connected to the medium that won him fame, shares his story…
From the scratch
I belong to this small village called Kotla Sultan Singh near Amritsar. After my graduation I joined Gursharan Singh and the Amritsar Natak Kala Kendra. I was this rustic chap with interest in literature that worked very well for me as an artiste. Those were very turbulent times in Punjab. We staged plays in villages. I travelled with the group on a tour to America, Canada and England in 1995. I was also associated with Kewal Dhaliwal for 13 years. I did plays with Kewal Dhaliwal including Loona, Court Martial, Lal Batti, Dharam Guru before I established my own group The Theratre Persons. We are 32 artistes including my wife Anita Devgan, and we do regular productions and theatre festivals in Amritsar.
Alongside theatre I have also worked in tele- serials both Hindi and Punjabi. So far I have done about 22 Punjabi films including Sir Dhad Di Baazi (that was my debut in 1993) to Mr and Mrs 420. I believe Nabar gave me a place that I have been enjoying on stage.
Then & now
Theatre and film scene has undergone a major transformation since I began. When I started theatre, we would go from one village to the other doing plays. Today, youngsters use stage as a medium to step into films and look for success overnight. Punjabi films that fell in the comedy genre are out to change too. We Punjabis are khushtabiyat people and it’s only us who can laugh on themselves. And, that was reflected in our films. Now we are branching out in other genres — historical, religious and serious which is a welcome change.
mona@tribunemail.com
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