You need to be passionate to tell your story, says Jaggi filmmaker Anmol Sidhu

Anmol Sidhu’s feature debut, Jaggi (2022), tells the story of a young innocent boy whose sexual impotence is misinterpreted by his peers. He becomes the subject of ridicule and abuse, as he becomes more and more entangled in a web of superstition, myths and toxic masculinity.

Set in rural Punjab, the Punjabi-language film tears apart the stereotypes associated with the state and its people. The film had its world premiere at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, which took place from 28 April to 1 May. The drama bagged the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature as well as the Uma da Cunha Award for Best Feature Film Debut.

A theatre artist and filmmaker, Sidhu speaks about Jaggi in an exclusive chat. Beginning by recounting his journey toward cinema, he said, “I started out as an actor in theatre and after that, I slowly started directing plays as well. I also started working as a dubbing artist, where I was dubbing English videos into Hindi. The company where I was working made documentaries, so I started making documentaries. I made one on stubble burning and moved on to short films. I really enjoyed directing plays.

"In 2018, I read about an incident in the newspaper and I started writing a film on that subject. That is how I moved from theatre to cinema.”

Sidhu made the short films Last Tree (2020) and Gobhi (2022), both of which focus on social issues. The former won various awards and was screened at several film festivals across the world. “All the plays that I have been a part of have been on social issues and my concern has also been to engage with them. One does not need to spell out everything but it is very important for art to show what is going on in society. My short films too reflected this.”

The idea for Jaggi was sparked by a newspaper report, and the seed was planted in his mind. “There was an incident that had I read about which triggered a thought process wherein I thought about things that I had seen growing up and all of that came together to make the film. There was another story about a boy in class 9 who committed suicide and this became an inspiration for me. These things are quite common in villages but nobody talks about them. From classes 6 and 9, boys and girls cannot meet each other openly in villages. It’s very rare for them to have girlfriends and boyfriends, but hormones are raging and children don’t really understand how to channel them. They just blindly believe whatever is told to them and are so vulnerable.”

Jaggi’s innocence and vulnerability are poignant in the film as we see the embers of hope dying out in him. Ramnish Chaudhary, who plays the titular role, has brought forth the predicament of the protagonist in its complexity.

Speaking about the casting of the film, Sidhu said, “Most of the actors in the film are from my theatre group. Ramnish Chaudhary is also my junior in theatre. They don’t do theatre anymore but have been a part of it for 2 to 3 years. I had told Ramnish Chaudhary about the role and he started preparing for it. He grew his hair and lost weight to look younger. And in [theatre] workshops we have done all kinds of scenes, so there was no discomfort for the actors while doing the roles in the films. The boys are all from villages, so they related to the story a lot. They all felt that it was an important issue on which the film should be made.”

In its portrayal of sexuality, the film hits out against the machismo associated with Punjab and its people. Mainstream cinema continues to perpetuate the stereotype that Punjabis are either tough as nails or doing the bhangra, which leaves no space for an incisive exploration of the people. Sidhu discussed how this aspect affected his writing of the film.

“There was frustration in seeing that 90% of the films produced by Punjab are comedies; 10% are gangster films. There was so much frustration on seeing this. I could not recommend [Punjabi] films to my friends because they are so limited, just the films by Gurvinder Singh…there are maybe just about 10 films like that. I have been very influenced by foreign filmmakers and this film is a very personal story as I have seen such things happening and such incidents taking place.

"So I did not go against stereotypes consciously but I have felt that the depiction of Punjab in mainstream cinema is not happening in a proper way and I wanted to stay as close to reality in my film no matter how uncomfortable that is. This story could also have been told in an unreal, superficial manner but that is not what I wanted.

“The image of Punjabi men is that all of us are six feet tall and awesome. This is so unreal. So there is this idea of masculinity in Punjab for sure. Anyone who does not seem to be part of this is seen as not being man enough or a real Jat.”

In fact, his passion to tell the story made him crowd-fund the film, which enabled him to buy a camera and start shooting. The producer came on board subsequently. “This story is very close to my heart and I think it is very important to tell it. The producer is my friend. He gets a salary so he would give me money every month for the film. So we managed somehow and shot the film over 13 to 14 months. You just need to be passionate to tell your story.”

Sidhu calibrated the music and colour palette of the film to better convey Jaggi’s inner world and his misery. “The background music is that of a heartbeat. Whether we masturbate or have sex or we fight or are tense, our heart is beating, either slower or faster. So that motif we kept in the music. We also tried to keep it minimalistic. In the editing process, we gave the film a tone which was in keeping with the story. The school parts are kept a bit vibrant but then it becomes dim while Jaggi grows up and is working in the fields later on.”

Taking forth his commitment to social issues, Sidhu has already embarked on writing the story of his next film. “I want to keep engaging with social issues and am working on a story around girls who dance in the villages. They are called ‘orchestra’. They are a group who charge very little money and they come and dance. The film that I am writing is about one such girl. I am meeting them and doing research.”