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Upala KBR (DNA; January 4, 2016)

In her comeback film, Jazbaa, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan played a no-nonsense lawyer. There was no room for a song and dance. However, in her next film, Sarbjit; she plays a village girl in Punjab and song-and-dance is as much part of their life, as it is for a Hindi film.

The first song in Sarbjit is being shot in Mumbai next week at a set in Film City. The song — Tuglak Tuglak Tun — is an energetic bhangra song, similar to the Nagada Nagada from Jab We Met.

Sarbjit is a biopic based on the life of the Indian villager who unwittingly crossed from Punjab into Pakistani and was arrested. While human right activists fought to free him and bring him home, he died in a Pakistan prison. One expected it to be a serious film.

Director Omung Kumar has a different take on it. He explains, “Sarbjit is a biopic but made in a different way. All biopics don’t have to be sad. Sarbjit’s story spans over 23 years. Before he disappeared, his life was full of fun and festivity. Then a drastic change happens, but a festive song was always meant to happen to show the contrast between then and now. While the seriousness has to be there, I am not making a boring film. I want people to cry, laugh and go through all the emotions. Twenty-three years is a long time. I do everything in films larger-than-life so even my way of showing Punjab will be bigger. This song is a full-on Punjabi dhamaal number.”

Choreographed by Vishnu Deva, best known for Shahid Kapoor’s Gandi Baat in R...Rajkumar and PC’s Ram Chahe Leela in Ram-Leela, the song features Richa Chadda and Randeep Hooda matching steps with Ash.