Women’s Day special: Leading ladies of Punjabi cinema

Living life king size, enjoying food like there’s no tomorrow, happy-go-lucky nature, pure soul and fearless attitude, these are few things that describe a true Punjabi, popularly known 'Funjabi'. Owing to all these attributes, there are various Punjabi artists who have made their mark in the world of entertainment, specifically in the field of music. However, with time, Punjabi cinema has also gained a lot of recognition and so have the actresses of the respective field. Blessed with the lethal combination of beauty with brains, these belles have cast their spell on the audience. This Women’s Day let’s celebrate the success of these leading ladies of Punjabi cinema.

Actor, director and producer, the Canadian-born artist Neeru Bajwa is a jack of all trades. In her documentary film 'Bollywood Bound', the actress admitted that she had little interest in studies and was a high school dropout. She was enticed by the world of glamour; thus, followed her heart and the results are right in front of our eyes. Today she is one of the most popular and successful personalities of Punjabi cinema. A lesser known fact about the actress is that she made her career debut with Dev Anand's Bollywood film 'Main Solah Baras Ki'. Since then, there was no looking back. In her 20 years of acting career, she has acted in around 26 movies and 5 television shows.

Who knew that the girl who was the only female in the boy’s rugby team will grow up to be such a beautiful and talented actress! The British Punjabi actress Mandy Takhar moved to London at the age of 17 to study drama at the Kingston University. Thereafter, she did her debut Punjabi movie 'Ekam - Son of Soil', opposite renowned Punjabi singer Babbu Mann. Her performance was highly appreciated and as a result, another amazing movie fell in her kitty. She played the lead opposite Gippy Grewal in one of the highest budgeted films of Punjabi cinema, 'Mirza- The Untold Story'. Her performance in this movie was lauded. She was also honoured with the Most Prominent & Popular Face and Youth Icon at the 6th Punjabi Film and Music Festival. And for her, the saga of winning has just begun.

After bagging the Best Debut Female Award for her Punjabi movie 'Dharti', actress Surveen Chawla’s career graph only saw an upward curve. Surveen’s charismatic looks and phenomenal acting potential landed her various Punjabi movies like 'Taur Mittran Di', 'Saadi Love Story', 'Singh vs Kaur', 'Lucky Di Unlucky Story' and 'Disco Singh'. She also gave noteworthy performances in many Bollywood films like 'Hate Story 2', 'Ugly' and 'Parched'. Surveen’s hunger and passion for work is certainly admirable.

Whenever she comes on screen, she owns it and that’s what makes each of her performance noteworthy. After starting her journey from small-screen, Sargun Mehta gradually made her way in the Punjabi film industry. She left her Masters in Business Management to follow her heart and pursue acting. Sargun made her feature film debut in 2015 with a Punjabi rom-com 'Angrej'. The movie emerged as the second highest grossing Punjabi film of the year. Even her second Punjabi project 'Love Punjab' made her win Filmfare Award Punjabi for Best Actress. She hence proved that following your heart is the best thing to do.

There are a few people who don’t need words to speak, as their eyes take care of the talking. Well, Mahi Gill seems to be one of that kind. This Chandigarh born actress is a very popular face of Punjabi film industry. Mahie is known for her fine work in movies like 'Hawayein', 'Khushi Mil Gayi', 'Sirf Panch Din', 'Carry On Jatta', 'Hikk Naal' and many others. The actress not only made her name in Punjabi cinema but also in Bollywood. Be it Mahadevi in 'Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster' or Paro in 'Dev D', Mahie never ceased to amaze the audience.