Pankaj Batra is widely acclaimed for his film Goreyan Nu Daffa Karo. During a period, when Punjabi Film Industry was struggling to get audience, his film got a wide acceptance. Today he is set for his fifth film’s release. Neeru Bajwa who had been busy with her personal life for long, is making a comeback with his film.

Punjabi Mania interviewed Pankaj over telephone about his upcoming film.

First of all tell us about the subject of your movie?
I have seen a lot of real stories in Punjab where NRI grooms marry Punjabi girls and later they disappear. So this is the core of the film. But we are not making it look like NRIs are at fault. Channo Kamli Yaar Di is a love story, where both boy and girl are from Punjab. It’s about how after marriage, boy goes abroad to make money and after a month he loses all contact with his wife. The film is a journey of a pregnant wife, who is searching for her husband in a foreign land.

This is your second film with Neeru. You have worked with her in Naughty Jatts before. And now you are working with her in Channo, Neeru’s first film after marriage. So did you find any changes in her?
No, I didn’t find any changes in her. She has been a professional since the beginning. Today as well she is very professional in her approach to work. Yes, she is happy after her marriage. She has just entered another beautiful phase of life.

So how was your overall experience with the cast? What locations have you explored in the movie?
If we talk about the cast this is my fourth film with Binnu Dhillon, I have worked with him in Naughty Jatts, Goreyan Nu Daffa Karo, Dildariyaan and now Channo. So, we have a fine tuning with each other and it’s fun to work with him. For me to have Neeru and Binnu in this film is like a dream come true. Both are good actors and the roles they were pitched to, suit them. They both have worked hard on it.  For a director, a good story matched with good actor to portray it is an icing on a cake.

Ninty percent of the film has been shot in Canada, in the city of Vancouver and the remaining 10 percent is shot in India.

So you mentioned Binnu Dhillon, let’s talk about him. No doubt Binnu made it to Punjabi Films with a negative role. But he got the limelight for his comical appearances. The admiration of his fans came from his comedy. Even you have worked with him in comedies before. So how did the idea of offering him a serious role struck in your mind?
I always feel there is an image build-up in Punjab that people continue to do the type of work or roles which they had done before. But like Binnu Dhillon, we have a very few actors who are actually versatile, who can carry forward everything with great ease, be it negative, positive or even comical roles. It’s about taking a risk on an artist, trusting him. I have a habit of casting right artists for my film who seem relevant to the story. I had 100 per cent believe in Binnu, that he will justify the role. We have very few artists in Punjab of his stature. Punjabi industry needs to focus on it. We have seen in Bollywood, Anupam Kher started as a negative and later turned out to be a real good comedian. There is Paresh Rawal, who can do any role be it serious, comedy, negative. I believe Binnu is an actor of that calibre. The trailer of Channo has proved it. People have given a huge acceptance to the trailer.

Please tell us about the music of the film. We have seen big names like Gurdas Mann and Amrinder Gill lending their voices for the film.
Since this is the first picture of Neeru Bajwa’s production, all the singers went out of the way to support her venture. Jatinder Shah has given the music to the film. We made sure that the songs are according to the singer plus the situation of the film. I don’t believe in the concept of big and small. Artists look for good work. We worked hard on the music of Channo. When we had sent the song to Amrinder Gill, he was very happy with Tere Bagair. And he went out of the way to retouch the song to make it perfect.

So this is the last question, we see Channo searching for Jeet in the film. So this character of Jeet, is it played by Harry Jawanda?
(laughs) No, it’s not going to be Harry Jawanda. This is for sure. I can’t tell who it would be eventually. But no, it isn’t Harry Jawanda.

So Harry Jawanda hasn’t at all worked in the film?
No, he is the producer of the film and he has worked hard for the film.

Channo Kamli Yaar Di releases on February 19, 2016.