Diljit Dosanjh: “I Am Humbled By The Response To My Performance”

Diljit Dosanjh’s performance as hockey champ Sandeep Singh is winning exceptional laurels. The man himself—Diljit—remains  humble ,down to-earth and  rooted to  the soil.

“I knew Soorma was  a role of a  lifetime. I am  ashamed to say when  Shaad Sir(director Shaad Ali) came to me with the project I didn’t know anything about Sandeep Paaji. It’s a shame that we  do not  give the same  respect and position to hockey as we  do to other games in the country,” says Diljit regretfully as he embarks on a new phase in his acting career.

The preparations to play the part took Diljit right  into the field.

“A role like Soorma happens once  in a lifetime. I learnt to play hockey from scratch. And it had to be hockey on a competent level. I was playing Sandeep Singh. I couldn’t afford to look like an amateur.I learnt  the game fromSandeep Paaji and  and his elder brother(Bikram Singh) . By  the time I was ready to  face the camera I was confident  of my game,” says Diljit.

So can Diljit now  think of  playing hockey  for the Country?

He laughs, “Arrey Nahin, Sir. Kahan? Bahot mehnat karni padti hai. The fact that people have found me convincing as Sandeep Singh is reward  enough for me. I was  playing a legend whom I had come to respect immensely as I got to know  about him. I couldn’t afford to goof up.Now I am humbled  by the  response to my performance. SandeepPaaji  has brought great honours  for our country. I’m honoured to  play him.”

Diljit hopes  Soorma will create awareness  about the game of  hockey.“When I  go to Haryana and  my home state Punjab I  see children everywhere playing hockey. But  not outside these two states.Why? Why is there  no glamourprestige and  power attached to the game of hockey in the rest  of the country? If Soorma   can create even some awareness of what a  difficult and  involving game  hockey is, I’d think  my efforts have paid off.”

Diljit’s next film is Arjun Patiala, a comedy where  he shares screen space with Kriti Sanon. “I am learning  on every film that I  do. It’s an ongoing process. Arjun Patialia is a comedy being produced  by Maddock Films. It is a script that caught  my attention. I am looking at a  couple  of  other  films. But I am not  anxious to  do films. My first love remains  music and singing. I’ve  sung one of  the songs Ishq di baajiyan  in Soorma. All the  other  songs are rendered  by Shankar Mahadevan Sir. They were recorded before I came on  boar. Ishq di baajiyan was also sung byShankar Sir. But when I came on board I re-did it.”

Dilijit is now preparing  to release a music album.  “Not digitally, but an actual album that one can  hold in one’s hand physically. It’s been a while since we  stopped doing that.”

 Trust Diljit Dosanjh to draw attention  to an endeavour that’s lost its sheen.