Gippy Garewal On Gaining And Losing 20 Kgs  For Iconic Role

Punjabi superstar Gippy Garewal is gearing up for the release of the most important film of his career.

To play  Subedaar Joginder Singh who  fought off  the Chinese invaders during the 1962  Indo-China war, Gippy went through drastic  physical and  emotional changes. “It  was  by far the most difficult role of  my career so  far. I had to gain 20 kilos to  look like Subedaar Joginder Singh.And then I had to lose it all for my  next film Carry On Jatta 2, all within  a few months.”

Gippy says the  effort was all worth his while. “The story of this amazing man had to be told to the world.And I am  honoured to be taking his story to the world. I am ashamed  to say I didn’t know who Subedaar Joginder Singh was when I was offered  the role. Then I began reading up on him. I  got to know he was  a Paramvir Chakra winner and his  valour  during the Indo-China war left me humbled and proud. I was blown away.A  hero like Subedaar Joginder Singh comes  along once in  a bluemoon. To play him is  a privilege.”

Luckily for  Gippy gaining and  losing all that weight was  the least  of his problems. “I can easily  lost weight. But I can’t gain weight that easily. So my problems came before I started shooting for Subedaar Joginder Singh.After the  shooting I had no difficulty  losing weight.But I  had a tough time  getting  out of  the skin and mind of that brave soldier who  gave up his life for our country  and to get into the  fun-and-games mode of  Carry On Jatta 2. I had to take time off for  a  few days  to  leave Subedaar Joginder Singh behind.He is someone I  don’t want to forget.”

Gippy prepares  to  release  his most ambitious  film in Punjabi and a dubbed  Hindi  version.  “The message  of Suberdaar JoginderSingh’s valour must reach to the farthest places  possible,”  Gippy asserts. “We are releasing the music in  New York in alliance with a Sikh association and then we’re heading to Canada to promote the  film.I’ll be back in time to release the  film in India on April 6.”