Ali Abbas Zafar on Casting Diljit Dosanjh in Jogi: I Was Clear I Needed a Sikh Actor Who Also Fits the Part

“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,” the director told Hindustan Times.

Ali also shared that when one picks a sensitive subject like this, one needs to bring forward their sensitive side. “When you pick up subjects like this, you have to bring forward your sensitive side. In any piece of art that is done around something that is a murder of humanity, things like the World Wars, Partition, ’84, you need to be sensible enough to create an atmosphere where people feel the emotions rather than look for the visuals. Even in Jogi, our first idea was to create an atmosphere where people understand what happened to a community. It’s very psychological. It is visual but it has to hit you deep in your gut and you feel within those 15 minutes how drastically the situation has changed. The storytelling is for the emotion and not voyeuristic.”