Anurag Singh – Famous Punjabi

‘Jatt and Juliet’ director Anurag Singh , was born in Kapurthala , Punjab . Although he has made a career in the field of film direction , none of his family members have a background in this field . Anurag Singh took the decision of directing films only after he completed his 12 grade from M.G.N school , Jalandhar . Since there were no universities offering a course in film direction , Anurag Singh went to Australia . He graduated with a degree in in Media Arts from Melbourne, Australia . After graduating , Anurag Singh shifted to Mumbai where he started working as an assistant director for famous Bollywood Director, producer and screenwriter , Raj Kanwar . Raj Kanwar directed films such as ‘Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega’ (2000) , ‘Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke’ (2000) and ‘Humko Deewana Kar Gaye’ (2006) among many others . Anurag Singh worked for 6-7 years under Kanwar and thereafter made his directorial debut with the film , ‘Raqeeb'(2007) . Raj Kanwar himself was the producer of the movie . The cast included the likes of Rahul Khanna , Tanushree Dutta , Sharman Joshi , Jimmy Shergill and Sherlyn Chopra among many others . The film received some negative reviews during its opening but was declared an overall hit as it collected over 35 crores during its entire run . Anurag Singh went on to direct his second film , ‘Yaar Anmulle'(2011) . The starcast of ‘Yaar Anmulle’ included Arya Babbar, Yuvraj Hans , Harish Verma, Jividha Ashta, Kajal Jain and Jenny Ghottra in lead roles . ‘Yaar Anmulle’ was produced with an estimated budget of (INR) 2.7 crore and collected around (INR)6.2 crore . For a Punjabi film during that time , this was a huge collection and the film was declared a super-hit . It was only in 2012 that the face of Punjabi cinema changed drastically . In 2012 Anurag Singh reached new heights in his career with his directorial stint in the blockbuster film , ‘Jatt and Juliet’ . The cast of ‘Jatt and Juliet’ included , Diljit Dosanjh , Karamjit Anmol , Neeru Bajwa , Anita Devgan , Jaswinder Bhalla , Upasana Singh , Rana Ranbir , B.N. Sharma , Amrinder Gill and many more . ‘Jatt and Juliet’ broke all records in Punjabi film industry and was accepted with open arms by audience world wide . It raised the bar for all Punjabi movies and helped Punjabi film industry grow significantly . Anurag Singh and his team returned a year later in 2013 and released ‘Jatt and Juliet 2’ , a sequel to the first one . Many stars from ‘Jatt and Juliet’ acted in ‘Jatt and Juliet 2’. Expectations were high for this film because of the massive success of ‘Jatt and Juliet’ . ‘Jatt and Juliet 2’ was even a bigger success that the first one . It broke all records of Punjabi film industry again . The film expanded the reach of Punjabi cinema and it was the biggest released Punjabi film ever . In terms of collections , ‘Jatt and Juliet 2’ took the international box office by storm . It was second to Ranbir Kapoor’s , ‘Yeh Jawani Hai Diwani ‘ in Australia . Overall the film managed to collect an estimated figure of (INR) 42 crore . Anurag Singh’s future projects include , ‘1984-Punjab’, staring Diljit Dosanjh set to be released in 2014 . When asked about the future of Punjabi film industry , Anurag Singh first gives credit to senior directors Manmohan Singh ,Navaniat Singh and Mandeep Kumar for their contribution towards Punjabi cinema and for laying solid foundations for the industry to grow on . Anurag Singh says true revolution of Punjabi cinema will only happen when Punjabi films will be showcased at international festivals and awards . He says this will eventually happen but as of now the cinema is performing brilliantly .