Punjabi superstar Gippy Grewal marked his Bollywood debut with a comedy film titled Second Hand Husband (2015) that also starred Dharmendra. In 2017, he appeared in a supporting role in Farhan Akhtar’s Lucknow Central, which tanked at the box office. In the last five years, he may have created ripples at the Punjabi box office with multiple hit films but has been absent from Hindi films.
In an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, Gippy reveals his reason behind staying away from Bollywood at a time when many of his peers in the Punjabi film industry are bagging multiple projects here. In his signature candour, he says, “My Hindi films don’t work at the box office (laughs). I did one a long time back but it under-performed. After that, I decided to do Bollywood films only if it had a very good team. So, I did Lucknow Central with Farhan, but that also didn’t work.”
The Jatt James Bond actor continues, “I’m very busy with my Punjabi films and music. You need to invest more time if you want to do a Hindi film and spend more days in Mumbai. Not just the shoot but the pre-production and the prep also take time.”
But has he been receiving offers from Hindi filmmakers? “Post Lucknow Central, I was offered a lot of Hindi films and I heard many scripts. I zeroed down on a few of them and I spent a lot of time on them. In fact, I heard those scripts over and over again, sometimes more than ten times. But I eventually decided to not do them because they didn’t strike a chord with me. I also got offered a few sports films with an ensemble cast but I didn’t want to do them. Having said that, I’m not staunchly against doing Bollywood films,” he remarks.
The actor delivered the biggest hit of Punjabi cinema with Carry On Jatta 3 this year. With a worldwide collection crossing the Rs 100 crore mark, it is reported to be the second highest grossing Punjabi film globally. With an array of Punjabi films in his kitty, Gippy says that he’s open to doing Hindi web shows. “Of late, I’ve been receiving scripts for many web series. The concept of web shows have caught my attention and I want to do them. I’m waiting to choose the best ones from the lot,” he states.
On a parting note, Gippy adds that he would rather wait patiently than be a part of the rat race and do a Hindi film just to stay relevant. “I’m in no rush. I’ll do them as and when I feel I should do them. It’s just that I don’t want my fans to question my choices. I don’t want to compromise on the quality of my story or my character in it,” he asserts.
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