Jatt and Juliet 3: Diljit Dosanjh is the local ‘Jatt’ who has gone global with music, can his movies follow suit?

Jatt and Juliet 3: Diljit Dosanjh is the local ‘Jatt’ who has gone global with music, can his movies follow suit?

Diljit Dosanjh is the closest thing to a successful triple threat to come from India in the last few decades. In Hollywood jargon, a triple threat is someone who can act, sing and dance, and is pretty good at all three. Diljit, we can say, is excellent at two of these and in the third, he does better than most. He is no Hrithik Roshan, but he doesn't have two left feet either. It was just a few months ago that Diljit was seen in Imtiaz Ali's Amar Singh Chamkila where he delivered one of the finest performances that one has seen in Hindi cinema in the last few years. And it was only a couple of weeks ago that he was seen singing on late night American television singing Punjabi songs. This comes after selling out stadium shows around the world and performing at Coachella in 2023. Diljit is having a moment globally and in the midst of all of this, the man is promoting his Punjabi film Jatt and Juliet 3.

It is quite evident that Jatt and Juliet 3 is being promoted unlike any other Punjabi film. Diljit is giving way too many interviews, his social media game is blowing up, and even though he did not plug his film at Jimmy Fallon's show, the timing just happens to be perfect. In the last few months, many Punjabi films have done the promotional rounds in Mumbai, apart from promoting their film in Punjab, and while it has helped franchises like Carry on Jatta, or a film like Jatt Nuu Chudail Takri (both starred Gippy Grewal), the same can't be said for a film like Shayar, which starred Neeru Bajwa and Satinder Sartaaj. Diljit is not a local Punjabi star anymore, he is an international star whose regional film could actually benefit from such massive promotions but this wasn't the case when the first film of this franchise released back in 2012.

When Jatt & Juliet released in 2012, Diljit had been making Punjabi music for close to a decade, but he was yet to experience fame outside of Punjab. He had appeared in a couple of films but none of them had particularly done well. When Jatt and Juliet released in 2012, it was almost like a new star had arrived in the Punjabi film industry. The film was an instant hit in Punjab, and did significant business in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh as well, apart from getting major traction in international markets. At the time, it became the biggest Punjabi hit of all time making over Rs 36 crore internationally and after this, he was a bonafide movie star.

But the question in 2024 is, how does Diljit's global stardom help his regional Punjabi films? Diljit's fans dance to his music and understanding Punjabi is not a prerequisite to enjoying his music. But the same can't be said for Punjabi comedy films. Cinema from around the world is accessible via subtitles and dubbings but comedy isn't a genre that translates well. Technically, you can translate what people are saying but in most cases, the jokes won't land. Indian films have come a long way from relying on shoddy subtitles but Punjabi films are yet to reach that stage. Even the dubs for this genre of Punjabi films haven't made much progress.

Netflix's French film Under Paris has changed the movement of its actors' mouths via AI to make the English dubbing look seamless and while as ethically questionable that might be, it definitely points towards the direction we are heading towards. Who knows if in a few years we would actually be watching Diljit mouth his Punjabi jokes in French, but as of now, the Punjabi dialogues are yet to get the correct translation. Diljit has been insisting in many of his interviews that he will continue to do at least one Punjabi film every year and if he continues to walk on the same path that he is on right now, there might be an RRR from the Punjabi film industry in the next few years.

Diljit is on his way to world domination. And while his music is helping him get there, his movies perhaps are the next piece of the puzzle.

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