Punjabi actor-singer Jassie Gill, who grew up in a village remembers Baisakhi as a time of unparalleled joy. Speaking in an interview, the ‘Panga’ actor said, “As a family, we’d look forward to the festival as it meant that we could finally harvest our crops. It was a period of intense hard work. But excitement kaafi rehti thi yeh soch ke ki paise aayenge aur parents se jo chahiye woh maang sakenge.”
However, he says a lot has changed as he moved on to create a place for himself in the film and music industries. He said, “(Now) my family lives in Canada, and I live in India. And on Baisakhi, I miss them a little too much.” Gill has a four-year-old daughter, Roojas Kaur Gill, who lives with her mum in Canada.“The Punjabi community there hosts shows and dance performances, which are accompanied by stories about what they stand for. Mere family ke liye yeh important hai ki apne bachchon ko apne tradition ke saath jod ke rakha jaaye,” Gill said.
When asked about his favourite dishes on the occasion, Gill said, “I would insist my mother make the dishes that I like. Our lunch would comprise of either rajma, which I love, or kaale chane. And in the evenings, we would have kada as dessert. I come from a very desi village. We hadn’t even heard of custards. For us, dessert meant moong daal ka kada.”
As Baisakhi marks the onset of a new year, he makes a resolution to do quality work in Bollywood. “Rather than doing eight back-to-back movies in a year, I want to be selective about my work,” says Gill, who has wrapped up two Hindi films - 'Noorani Chehra’, with actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and an untitled project.
