Gippy Grewal gets candid about Carry On Jatta 3 and his equation with Aamir Khan

Actor-filmmaker Gippy Grewal left no stone unturned for his ambitious first pan-India release Carry On Jatta 3. Grewal got Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan to launch the trailer of his film in Mumbai last week to kick-start the film’s promotions across India and abroad. In an exclusive conversation, Grewal opened up about his film and his equation with Aamir Khan.

Talking about his decision to take his comedy franchise pan-India Grewal said, “Carry On Jatta (2012) didn’t do big business when it was released. It did 18-19 crores. But whomever I had met at that time had watched the film either on TV or YouTube or pirated copy. So, we aggressively promoted Carry On Jatta 2 (2018) and it did a business of approx. 60 crores.”

“It took us five years to make the third film because it was our responsibility to make a good film first. Then we decided to start the promotions in Mumbai because it is the hub of cinema. Films in all languages release here,” he added.

For those who haven’t watched the first two films in the franchise Grewal explains that the base of these films is simple. A son tells a lie to his father and that creates a mess. “It’s great if you want to watch the first two films. But even if you directly watch the third one you’ll enjoy it because it’s a totally different story,” he said.

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Grewal started his career as a singer and has 12 studio albums and more than 40 singles to his credit. Sharing his opinion on the importance of music in films, the Carry On Jatta actor said, “If songs weren’t important for a film, then Punjabi songs in Hindi movies wouldn’t have made any sense. Carry On Jatta 3 has happy songs. We have also shot the songs on a grand scale.”

Grewal went on to share an incident about music with Aamir Khan at his house in Mumbai. He said, “We were at Aamir Khan’s house after the trailer launch for dinner. He said that he doesn’t get good songs for his films. Because his films are content-driven songs need to be part of the screenplay. Sometimes, a song clicks with the audience. Aamir Bhai said that he didn’t get a song after Ghajini where everything moves at high-speed i.e. slow motion.”

So, what lessons has Grewal learned from Aamir Khan who is a hands-on and successful producer? Grewal revealed, “Aamir Bhai is like family to me. I ask him a lot of queries. He gives his suggestions, and we try to implement those suggestions to make our films better. And it’s not just about films and filmmaking, Aamir Bhai is anyway an intelligent person. I love to talk to him. I was interacting with him at his house till 5 am after the trailer launch. He creates that environment for others and he himself likes to interact.”

Carry On Jatta 3 has renowned actors from the Punjabi film industry such as Sonam Bajwa, Gurpreet Ghuggi, Binnu Dhillon, Jaswinder Bhalla, and Kavita Kaushik. When asked how easy or difficult comedy is for him, Grewal gushed and said, “We don’t find comedy difficult at all. It is in our blood. Singing and dancing, comedy and humour are part of our routine lives. Our writer Naresh Kathooria is one of the top writers of comedy. On the sets also, we would rehearse and improvise the scenes. You can start watching this film at any point and you’ll be able to enjoy it.”

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Since this is the age of cross-pollination of actors and franchises, does Grewal see a potential film crossover between Punjabi and Hindi? The 40-year-old Punjabi star said, “When I directed my first film in 2016 Aamir Khan told me, ‘Since you’re directing it, if there’s a cameo, I’ll do it for you.’ My statement was the same back then as it is today – If I bring an artist like Aamir Khan, I will bring him on the merit of my story and content, not just because he is my friend. There’s no point in wasting an artist. When we requested him to attend the trailer launch, we were clear in our intentions that his presence will give our film a wider reach and we had told him the same. If he hadn’t come for the trailer launch, the event wouldn’t have created such a big buzz.”

Directed by Smeep Kang, Carry On Jatta 3 has released in theatres on June 29^th.