BizAsia talks to Zareen Khan about successful Punjabi film debut

Yesterday, BizAsia reported that actress Zareen Khan had been admitted into hospital following a bad case of food poisoning.�� In a chat with BizAsia, Khan, who is now resting at home, said she is ���much better now, though still on medication.�۝

Khan has earlier been a part of successful Bollywood movies like ��Housefull 2�۪ (2012) and has taken her first step into Punjabi cinema with the recently released ��Jatt James Bond�۪.�� The film seems to have hit the right chords at the box office, having made over 8 crores in the first week of its release.

BizAsia caught up with the actress, regarding her debut into Punjabi cinema.

Excerpts from the chat:

How did you take this decision of stepping into Punjabi cinema? Did your mentor, Salman Khan, advise you at all about this?

Venturing into Punjabi cinema was entirely my call. I feel the Punjabi film market is blooming at the moment and it is the right time to explore this market.�� In fact more and more Hindi film actors are doing Punjabi films, Akshay Kumar being one of them.

What made you zero in on ��Jatt James Bond�۪ as your debut project in Punjabi cinema and how would you describe your experience while shooting the film?

I couldn’t have asked for a better debut in Punjabi cinema. When the script of ‘Jatt James Bond’ was narrated to me it sounded very interesting and the added bonus was that the film was opposite Gippy, who is a superstar in Punjab.

How was the experience of working with director, Rohit Jugraj, and shooting in Punjab?

I think Rohit has done an amazing job as director. We shot the film in the typical villages of Punjab, which I’d only seen in movies so far. I got to experience them for the first time while filming this movie. The whole working experience was wonderful.�� The entire team has been very supportive towards me, even helping me with the language whenever I got stuck.

Gippy Grewal is an award-winning actor in Punjab.�� How was it working with him for the first time?

It was a great pleasure working with Gippy. He is a fabulous actor and a great human being. ��I would love to work with him again.�� Rohit and Gippy were a major support system for me during the film, making things really easy and comfortable.

Post the success of ��Jatt James Bond�۪, would you look into doing more Punjabi films?

Yes, I am open to doing more Punjabi films if I get interesting scripts.

BizAsia thanks Zareen Khan for taking out time to talk to us and wishes her a speedy recovery.�� Here�۪s hoping there are many more successes like ��Jatt James Bond�۪ on the way for her.

By, Manpreet Bhandal.