Punjabi actor Gippy Grewal says the cinema industry of Punjab is currently focusing on big screen releases and it will take some time for filmmakers to venture into the streaming space.

Grewal, who made his directorial debut with ‘Ardaas’ in 2016, has come up with the third installment, ‘Ardaas Sarbat De Bhale Di’ after 2019’s sequel ‘Ardaas Karaan’, a PTI report stated.

The third part, which also stars Jasmin Bhasin and Gurpreet Ghuggi in lead roles, released in theatres yesterday.

“The entire focus of our Punjabi industry is on cinema. The cinema of Punjab is getting big and our target is to make it bigger,” Grewal told PTI in an interview.

The actor, 41, noted that the reach of Hindi cinema is ‘already very big’ so it can easily present its content on OTT, but for Punjabi cinema, which is still rising, it will take four to five more years to move to streaming platforms.

“Maybe in another 4-5 years, we will concentrate on OTT but right now everyone is focusing on cinema,” the actor, also known for his roles in Hindi films ‘Second Hand Husband’ and ‘Lucknow Central’, said.

Ghuggi, 53, credited shows such as ‘Tabbar’ and ‘Kohrra’ for bringing stories from Punjab to the larger audience.

“‘Tabbar’ and ‘Kohrra’ are already in the backdrop of Punjab and mostly actors and makers are from there but they are using a mix of Hindi and Punjabi just to make the scope wider. If it’s in pure Punjabi, then the audience won’t get it.

“Eighty percent of Punjabi has been spoken in ‘Tabbar’ but like Gippy said, if you have excessive content in Bollywood, then everything cannot come in cinema,” he said.

Bhasin, 34, who is famous for her roles in ‘Tashan-e-Ishq’, ‘Dil Se Dil Tak’ and ‘Honeymoon’, also agreed that filmmakers in Punjab are focusing more on cinema.

“In Hindi, people are producing more content on OTT because it’s a very vast industry. In Punjab, there is also web content. So Punjabi cinema is also going towards web and OTT, it’s growing out there,” she said.

Over the last few years, the audience for Punjabi cinema is growing overseas and in the Hindi belt, Grewal said, pointing to the pan-India success of movies like ‘Jatt & Juliet’ and ‘Carry On Jatta’.

“We have been to Australia, New Zealand and we have been to the UK and Canada, where there are big releases of Punjabi films… I think we are in the zone where our films will be released pan-India. Our last two-three films have worked well, even got sold out at Chennai. So we are hoping for the same for this one,” he added.