Ali Abbas Zafar on casting ‘Jogi’: “This story can only be told with Diljit”

Diljit Dosanjh and Ali Abbas Zafar are receiving much deserved praise for their Netflix release ‘Jogi’ (2022). Zafar reveals that the film wouldn’t have been made without Dosanjh and it took the actor-singer a couple of minutes to greenlight the project.

Zafar spoke to Hindustan Times, saying, “I was very clear that I needed a Sikh actor, who also fits the part in terms of the stardom he owns and the vulnerability he carries. I told my producing partner Himanshu that this story can only be told with Diljit. There is nobody else who can do this. We cannot make a non-Sikh actor into a Sikh character and portray this story. This story could have gone forward only with a person from that community, who understands what the journey of this character is. We just had a two-page story at that time. I picked up the phone to Diljit and he heard that narration, which was not more than 5-6 minutes. He took a deep breath and said ‘I’m doing this.’ ”

Before ‘Jogi’, Dosanjh was last seen in ‘Honsla Rakh’ (2021).