Punjabi movie Sufna which released in 2020 not only turned out to be a superhit, but also managed to leave a mark on fans’ hearts. Most of us have watched it already, and some of us might have rewatched it many times as well. And this indeed is the true success of the movie. It stars Ammy Virk and Tania in the leading roles while it was written and directed by the ace filmmaker Jagdeep Sidhu. And there is a lot in this movie that deserves to be cherished forever and the Sufna team also knew it. That’s why they released the official making of the movie and it spilled the beans in the most unexpected manner. You must have watched Sufna but you’re surely unaware of most of these facts about the movie.
1. One major issue with the movie was that the first time “Narma” i.e cotton fields were to be shown on a 70mm screen. It must look cinematic, but given that when cotton produce is good in fields they grow higher than humans, and those with short hight of plants don’t have that much produce. For this almost 7 acre of land had to be blocked for 6-7 months. During this time heavy rain destroyed that field just when shoot had begun. Alternate fields were hard to find on such short notice given that plants had short height and high produce. Lastly, they found the field with desired height but with least produce so production had to place already plucked cotton on the plants. So the Cotton in those fields which you enjoyed in the movie was somehow fake cotton!
2. Muslim names in songs: Jagdeep had clearly told Jaani that he doesn’t want too much of Urdu in songs which could make this desi love story into non-relatable content. But almost every song Jaani gave him has something Urdu in it but promised Jagdeep that for now you shoot visuals with these and would replace words like “Qubool A” “Ammi” “ Jannat” “Kuran” from songs but during the film, Jagdeep also was so used to listening to those words that he stopped having issues with Urdu words and kept them as it is in the film. Also to justify usage of Urdu and Teg being a Kashmiri Muslim character was shown Muslim since Childhood so that usage of Urdu didn’t look out of the space.
3. The Grave scene shot in the movie with all three friends is the same place where Jagdeep Sidhu’s Pad Dada Ji was buried. It was an important and moving moment for Jagdeep Sidhu
4. The film was written for Gurnam and it was a teenager story but when Ammy became part of the movie script and nuances for the character had to be changed as Ammy couldn’t afford to look a school kid anymore because of ongoing projects and to avoid resemblance with Harjeeta character.
5. Tania’s character Teg was filmed with contact lenses on and it was pre-decided but one thing which was left unattended was, Teg’s childhood character which is played beautifully by Jagdeep Sidhu’s daughter Rabab Kaur would also need lenses. But to the director’s surprise, it was way too convenient working with Teg though he didn’t plan initially to have his own daughter in the movie. Tania was a great help on sets to cope up with Rabab’s occasional mood swings.
6. We often hear stories from Pollywood insiders that payments are a big issue and sometimes for months artists need to follow up for their money but the producer of movie and Jagdeep made sure that from stars to spot boy everybody on and off the set involved in the movie was paid in advance. That clearly shows their honesty and faith in the craft.
7. Gurnam Bhullar’s song Pagal from which the movie was inspired was to be part of the film and Jagdeep did ask Gurnam about his plans. But Gurnam told him that I already imagined myself into the song’s video so sorry it won’t be possible this time.
8. Pagal was supposed to be climax song and a lot was at stake on same. With Gurnam not giving a go-ahead Jagdeep was a bit bothered but when Jaani Gave him “Shukriya” he knew this is a replacement for “Pagal”. This song Shukriya also helped set film narrative straight.
9. For Teg’s husband to be, Jagdeep had auditioned more than 15 actors but wasn’t convinced enough and it was Mintu Kapa who really understood the tone of the character. Mintu’s character could make or break the film and that why when he was finalized, revealed Jagdeep texted Ammy that now he is sure of the film’s fate.
10. This film is close to the director’s heart for so many reasons: he shot in his hometown Ganganagar, he always dreamt of cotton fields to be shown on the silver screen, his daughter was surprising an integral part of the movie, he loves romantic flicks and on the top of that it was shot in the same house where Jagdeep saw his life’s first-ever movie on TV.
To make a movie with all odds and break the box office where the majority of movies made are in comedy genre is an achievement in itself. Kiddaan wishes the entire team of Sufna best of luck in their upcoming projects.
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