Bollywood actor cum politician Raj Babbar loves the Punjabi spirit

Amritsar, July 15 : From earning a wide acclaim in Bollywood for his acting skills to becoming a Member of Parliament, Raj Babbar has displayed personality capable of registering success in diverse areas.

The 1975 batch alumnus of prestigious National School of Drama (NSD), Raj Babbar is today a widely known personality not just in theatrical or film circles but also in politics. Raj Babbar tells that he was so drawn to acting in Punjabi films that he even opted to act in Punjabi films for free! "I made my film debut with a Punjabi film - Chan Pardesi. In this film, I faced camera for the first time. Later, I did Hindi films like Insaaf ka Tarazu. All through my career in Hindi cinema, I planned to do at least one Punjabi film in a year. Besides, Chan Pardesi, I acted in Punjabi films like Long da Lashkara and Aashra Pyar da. There was a group of my friends with whom I did Punjabi films whenever there was a good story," said Raj Babbar.

He says that he always found his soul close to Punjab. "My mother hails from Amritsar. After the partition of India in 1947, we migrated from Pakistan to Amritsar. During those days, there was no trend of spending vacations in a hill stations, as one used to visit their maternal house during vacations. During my school days, I used to spend two months-long summer vacations in Amritsar. So I remember many incidents and traditions related to Punjab," says Babbar. I am very proud of the fact that whenever I played the role of a Sikh, the audience never took it lightly.

"I played a Sikh like any other character in the film. In Bollywood, I projected the character of a Sikh as a true Sikh. Sikh community is very brave, and it is very unfortunate that Sikhs are the butt of jokes. One should understand the psyche of Sikh community, which is different to others," said Babbar. He informed that he is actively involved in the casting for his documentary film on Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the last Sikh emperor.

"Acting and speech workshops have been organized for them. I am going to depict a century old history related to Maharaja Ranjit Singh from 1740 to 1840 in my documentary film," Babbar said.

ANI