2018 released ‘Qismat’ is about to turn 3, and on the occasion, we connected with the writer-director of the film Jagdeep Sidhu. The movie was 2018’s one of the most successful films. It featured the tale of a love that never met its fate and left everyone in tears. On its third year anniversary, we asked Jagdeep how did he actually start with the idea of the movie, and then he narrated how it all began
“My mother passed away owing to the same disease, and there's also one of my friends, who lost his girlfriend to the same disease,” quoted Jagdeep Sidhu.
(For the uninitiated, Sargun Mehta a.k.a Bani loses her battle to life after a massive liver infectious and kidney failure.)
“In 'Qismat' I have also mentioned that it is inspired by Rishi and Tanisha. So Rishi called me one day and asked me how to take care of Tanisha, which doctor or hospital should he take her to. Then one day, he told me she is no more, and told me the reason behind her demise. He said she was alive on hope, and the moment she lost her hope is the day she lost her life. So in 'Qismat' also Baani was alive until she had the hope that Shiva is still with her. The moment she lost that hope, the moment she felt that Shiva might not come back, she lost her life. This was the first seed from where 'Qismat' began,” mentioned Jagdeep Sidhu.
We also asked Jagdeep, about the hardship he faced while finding a producer for ‘Qismat’. To this, he replied, “finding a producer for 'Qismat' was not very hard. I first reached out to the Hindi industry with the script and a lot of people liked it. However, in Punjabi, the filmmakers believed that a story like 'Qismat' which is a sad romantic tale, might not work. Nevertheless, I narrated the story to Ammy Virk and he liked it. Then a meeting was arranged between Ammy and the producers, and that is how it all started.”
“Also, I had no plans of directing the movie. However, when the project was locked, we were still looking for a director and that is when I stepped in,” he added.
Jagdeep Sidhu made his directorial debut with ‘Qismat’, and it did change his destiny. Speaking about it, he said, “since I had this script with me, I believed in it. However, I didn't know that it will be such a big hit, that it will get such great numbers. All I knew was that this is the story that excites me, and it should be made. Then it got made and we got an overwhelming response.”
“And they say that a movie sets your career, but 'Qismat' helped me establish my genre in the Punjabi industry. This genre was untouched, no director was working in this space. So it was simply amazing to experience that,” concluded Jagdeep Sidhu.
#FriendshipsDaySpecial, Jagdeep Sidhu: The best part of our friendship is that we don't hold each other back
