Jassie Gill: I miss my family a little too much during Baisakhi

When he was a child, Baisakhi was a time of unparalleled joy for actor-singer Jassie Gill. “As a family, we’d look forward to the festival as it meant that we could finally harvest our crops. It was a period of intense hard work. But excitement kaafi rehti thi yeh soch ke ki paise aayenge aur parents se jo chahiye woh maang sakenge,” shares the Panga (2020)actor, who grew up in a village in Punjab.

A lot has changed as he moved on to carve a niche in the film and music industries: “[Now] my family lives in Canada, and I live in India. And on Baisakhi, I miss them a little too much.” 

Gill has a four-year-old daughter, Roojas Kaur Gill, who lives with her mum in Canada. He believes the festival is a great way to teach her all about her roots: “The Punjabi community there hosts shows and dance performances, which are accompanied by stories about what they stand for. Mere family ke liye yeh important hai ki apne bachchon ko apne tradition ke saath jod ke rakha jaaye.” 

Food is an integral part of any festival. Quiz him about his favourite Baisakhi special dishes and the Nikle Currant singer says, “I would insist my mother to make the dishes that I like. Our lunch would comprise of either rajma, which I love, or kaale chane. And in the evenings, we would have kada as dessert. I come from a very desi village. We hadn’t even heard of custards. For us, dessert meant moong daal ka kada.”

As Baisakhi marks the onset of a new year, he makes a resolution to do quality work in Bollywood. “Rather than doing eight back-to-back movies in a year, I want to be selective about my work,” says Gill, who has wrapped up two Hindi films — Noorani Chehra, with actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and an untitled project.  

So, does he have any reservation about performing certain scenes onscreen? “I believe in experimentation but I don’t want to do intimate scenes. I don’t think that my audience will accept me in those roles. I’m not ready for it and comfortable with it. I think you can make a good film without any intimate scenes in them,” he says.

Happy with the change in the portrayal of Punjabis in Hindi films today, the 33-year-old says, “I don’t think that stereotype exists anymore. Earlier, when there weren’t many Punjabi actors in Bollywood, and others would be made to wear pagdis and look and behave like Punjabis. These portrayals were like caricatures and they were far removed from reality. Diljit (Dosanjh; actor-singer) paaji set a precedent for. Today, we, Punjabi actors, bring the true essence of being one to the table. I hope for this realistic depiction to continue.”