Director Anmol Sidhu, whose debut feature film Jaggi has won two awards at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, believes Punjabi film-makers need to experiment more

Sheetal

While many characters on screen become a bigger name than the actors themselves, for director Anmol Sidhu the former must be the title of his projects. The director’s debut feature film Jaggi has won two awards—Uma da Cunha Award for Best Feature and Audience Choice Award for Best Feature—at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA).

He says his next project is also titled on its lead character, just like this one. If the director and actors of the film have a Chandigarh connection (working in Chandigarh and part of Alankar Theatre Group), then the subject of the film is Punjab and its villages (shot in Kauloke, director’s village, in district Bathinda of Punjab)

Many firsts

While it is Anmol’s first attempt at a feature-length project, the same goes for cinematographer Pardeep Taina. Even for the lead actor, Ramnish Chaudhary, who plays Jaggi, it’s his first project where he had to face the camera. Earlier Ramnish had the experience of working in plays with Alankar group, which he had joined in 2018.

Close to reality

Anmol Sidhu says, “The film is based on true events and although it revolves around the central character, Jaggi, but through him we have tried to cover countless stories of bullying, ridicule, sexual and mental harassment. Our aim was to showcase the often ignored reality of the society of men letting out their frustration on weaker men once they hit puberty. I want to create a difference in society by my work as a filmmaker. And this award is a pat on the back for not just me, but the entire cast and crew.”

Anmol is a senior in the Alankar Group, but the close- knit family that he has found in the group watched his back while shooting. The actors are some of his juniors, who did not ask for money for this wonderful social experiment. They crowd-funded the money for Jaggi and the director even stopped shooting for a while to work on other projects to arrange the finances. While Anmol earned from recording stand-up gigs, Pardeep also took some other projects to double up as the producer. Apart from Pardeep, Dhruv Bakshi, CEO and founder of The Laugh Club. also co-produced the film whereas stand-up comedian Abhishek Upmanyu was involved in the project too.

Serious shoot

The on screen Jaggi aka Ramnish, says, “It was an intense character. I was handed over the script seven months prior to the shoot. To imbibe the role, its trauma and struggles, I stayed away from the other cast members and the only inputs came from Anmol, our director.” To keep it real and authentic, the director preferred to do long shots and as every actor had a background in theatre, it went smoothly. After multiple edits, the four hours of shoot were reduced to one hour 57 minutes of runtime.

Change needed

Anmol believes Pollywood doesn’t experiment or is ready to showcase cinema that reflects society in the true sense. Anmol says, “When we completed the film, we had shown it to potential Pollywood producers and directors, but they weren’t ready to take a project that had rape scenes, nudity and no songs. Just comedy won’t suffice, for the growth of cinema focus must shift from profits to risk-taking and experimentation.”

Deriving inspiration

Having entered the film line to become an actor, Anmol soon discovered that his talent lay in filmmaking. A double Masters in Computer Application and Business Administration from Chandigarh Group Of Colleges, Landran, his early influences were Gangs of Wasseypur and Lunchbox. Romanian film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days has influenced his filmmaking style too. He doesn’t possess a professional degree in filmmaking, but learnt on the job. And the results are there for everyone to see!