Bhangra Paa Le actor Sunny Kaushal discusses his five-month prep to ace dance form
Sonia Lulla (MID-DAY; December 29, 2019)

The finesse with which Sunny Kaushal pulls of the Bhangra sequences in Peg Sheg is testimony that the makers of Bhangra Paa Le were unwilling to depict the dance form as frivolously as it has been done in cinema, so far. "Before rolling, we trained in dance for five months, and rehearsed for four hours a day. As a leader of my [dance] troupe in the film, I had to [pay attention] to the technique. Bhangra has a lot of it. Also, it must be pulled off with grace and energy, and look like a fun form of dance," says Kaushal, who, apart from learning the authentic style, had to also learn its various iterations to do justice to the storyline.

"Our film has two storylines, one is set in the '40s, and the other, in present day. So, we had to learn the original form for the first part, and the fusion version for the second. Our choreographers, Adil Shaikh and Vijay Ganguly taught us the sequences for the 10 songs in the film. Given that we couldn't [learn it all] during the shoot, we had to learn the techniques before we rolled."

Even as his actor-brother Vicky Kaushal—who took home the National Award days ago—has been going from strength-to-strength with each film, Sunny doesn't seek his advice. "Since we were kids, we have been independent. We have different personalities, and our approach to things also varies. He has made a mark quickly, and has done so with his own choices. I'd like to do it on my own [too]. If we need advice, on a script, or otherwise, we'll go to our father [Sham Kaushal, action director]; his experience is unparalleled."