Diljit Dosanjh Reacts On Reliving 1984 Riots On Screen In 'Jogi': 'They Are Always With Us'

Singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh is returning to the screen in a Hindi film with his new release 'Jogi', his first Bollywood film in almost two years. Based on true events from the anti-Sikh violence in the aftermath of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984, Jogi sees Diljit in the titular role of a common man caught in the midst of the violence.

'Jogi' isn’t the first film about the 1984 riots that stars Diljit as he also did the Punjabi film Punjab '1984' back in 2014. Talking about reliving that time, he says “That era has a lot of stories. The film I did was set in Punjab. This incident is from Delhi. The story and setting is very different. It was a very different incident and I felt stories like these need to come out and reach the audience as well. Stories like this have not been told before", reports Hindustan Times.

Jogi fictionalizes some true events that occurred in East Delhi’s Trilokpuri, one of the worst-affected neighbourhoods during the violence, While discussing the research for the film, the actor says, “I did not personally go and speak to anyone but I have read a lot about that time, including a lot of real incidents from that time. I can so easily relate to all of them because I have grown up lisneighborhoodstening to all of this.”

And he has indeed grown up with stories of 1984, having been born and brought up in Punjab. 

“That time has stayed in our subconscious mind whether we want it or not. My birth year is 1984. I remember when people would ask my age when I was a kid and I would say I was born in ’84, people would react ‘acha tu tab ka hai (oh you are from that time)’. Back then, I could never understand why everyone laid such emphasis on that time but that tells you how significant that year is. So when I was shooting, there was no trigger because this is what I grew up with. It has never left me,” says Diljit.

Diljit, along with Ammy Virk and Manjot Singh, are the few young Sikh actors in India who portray Sikh characters.