Qismat


Qismat is a 2018 Indian Punjabi-language romantic drama film written and directed by Jagdeep Sidhu. Produced by Shri Narotam Ji Productions, the film stars Ammy Virk and Sargun Mehta with Guggu Gill, Tania and Harby Sangha in supporting roles. It was titled after a 2017 song of the same name, sung by Virk and starring Mehta in its music video. The film follows a man who falls in love whilst studying in Chandigarh, despite his marriage being arranged to another woman. It marked feature film debut for Tania.
Principal photography took place within a single schedule that lasted 45 days in Chandigarh and other villages of Punjab, India, with Jalesh Oberoi serving as cinematographer. The background score was composed by Gurmeet Singh and Sandeep Saxena while the soundtrack was composed by B Praak and Sukh-E, with vocals from Ammy Virk, Gurnam Bhullar, Kamal Khan, Divya Bhatt, Neetu Bhalla and B Praak. Also, Khan won "Best Playback Singer" Award.
Qismat was released worldwide on 21 September 2018 by White Hill Studios. The film attracted positive reviews from critics, with some highlighting it as Virk's best performance at the time, while some criticized film's length. Commercially, the film is blockbuster and had grossed in its theatrical run, and it ran for more than 50 days. Also, the film is one of the highest-grossing Punjabi films of all time and second highest grossing Punjabi film of 2018. The film won Best Film award at 9th PTC Punjabi Film Awards, and was nominated for Best Film award at PTC Awards and Brit Asia Film Awards.
Sidhu announced the sequel of the film and was confirmed later by him in May 2019. Sidhu, Virk, Mehta, Jaani, and B Praak are expected to return for the sequel.

Plot

The film begins when the main actor, Shivjit, asks his parents to send him off Chandigarh to go to college. He had already failed twice in obtaining his bachelor's degree. So Shivjit decides to make a pact with his parents that if he moves to the city, he will pass his exams. Shivjit's father is reluctant in sending his son to college and introduces the idea of marrying him off. However, his aunt agrees to Shivjit's plan and lets him move to the city. Once he reaches Chandigarh, he immediately begins his search for a casual relationship. He quickly encounters Bani who had caught his attention in front of his new apartment building.
Bani is a beautiful young woman who is already in a relationship. Bani goes to visit her boyfriend in his apartment with food. She looks into her boyfriend bedroom and realizes that her boyfriend's cheating on her with a random woman in his bed. To make her ex-boyfriend jealous and teach him a lesson, Bani asks for Shivjit's help in posing as her fake boyfriend. As they continue their fake relationship, Shivjit and Bani start getting close and a start developing feelings for one another.
Heartbroken and ashamed from her past relationship experiences Bani suggests to her father that she will get an arranged marriage to whomever he prefers. This doesn't sit well with Shivjit, and he sends a letter to Bani. He writes that she should marry someone she prefers and not a random stranger that her father picked. However, the letter ends up in her father's hands, who is an SHO at the local police station. Her father gets angry upon receiving the letter and warns Shivjit to stay away from his daughter Bani and leave their neighbourhood.
Circumstances change quickly as Bani's health deteriorates after being separated from Shivjit. Her father has no option but to go fetch Shivjit who can make her feel happy & help her during the recovery. Meanwhile, Shivjit's marriage is fixed, but Bani's father somehow convinces Shivjit's family to take him away for some days in the days of his need.
As Shivjit's time runs out of the days Bani's father asked him for, he starts packing up for his house. After returning Shivjit still thinks about Bani's health & he can't focus anywhere else. While wedding dress shopping with his future wife he professes his love for Bani to his future bride. He shares his love story of him and Bani together. The bride acutely understands his eternal love for Bani. She explains that it is better if Shivjit goes and take care of Bani instead and ends the engagement.
After the positive reply, Shivjit happily plans of marrying his love Bani. He hires a car and a marching band to propose at the hospital where Bani is at. He then reaches to the hospital at night in the pouring rain, not realizing that Bani had died. Bani is wheeled out of the building in her hospital bed with a white cloth covering her body. Shivjit then starts to realize that Bani is dead and becomes emotional. He mourns with her family over her death, and the movie ends.

Cast

Development and pre-production

A single titled Qismat was released by Ammy Virk starring Sargun Mehta in its music video which got huge success and was one of the most successful hits of Ammy Virk. When Jagdeep Sidhu was asked would their be any similarity between film and song, he denied by saying that genre of song was sad whereas film is romedy. The film was written by Jagdeep Sidhu even before the release of song Qismat but was untitled yet. Also, the film was written for Bollywood and was narrated to Sushant Singh Rajput, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, Ayushmann Khurrana, Vicky Kaushal, Kartik Aaryan, Shraddha Kapoor and to leading production houses – Yash Raj, Balaji, T-Series, Dharma by Sidhu but wasn’t working and one of his friend asked Sidhu to make the film in Punjabi. After the film was signed producers suggested Sidhu to direct the film by himself only.
He wanted to direct the film with new lead actors. As, Virk is his old friend and have done many films together before said he would do the film. Then, Tania was being considered as a lead actress but Sidhu wasn’t sure. Sidhu said, “One day Sargun came to meet Ammy and we just shared the film with her. As soon as she heard the script, she wanted to do it.” Sargun wrote, "Jab Jaggi Ne Mujhe yeh film Sunayi thi tabhi Meri Aankhon Mein Aansu they" means "when Jaggi was narrating this film to her she was crying". So, due to similarity in characters and crew of film and song, the film was titled as Qismat. There were also some shooting locations in Chandigarh similar in song and film. In an interview with PTC Punjabi Ammy and Sargun disclosed that they both signed the film just few days after the release of song and only film signed by Sargun releasing in 2018. Her last film Lahoriye was released 16 months ago from Qismat.
The feel of Qismat, the film, is something like the song; it has love and separation so we decided to name the film Qismat.
- Ammy Virk

Filming and post-production

Qismat was filmed in a single schedule of 45 days in Chandigarh and other villages of Punjab. Principal photography of the film was started on 13 February 2018 at Anandpur Kalud and ran till 31 March 2018 where Jalesh Oberoi served as cinematographer. The last scene where Bani dies in the hospital was a dilemma for Sidhu and he kept it for filming. And, finally decides to not spoil the originality of the concept and was shot similar to screenplay. Sidhu in an interview described the film experience as “friendly vibe” and “comfortable” for him as compared to his 2019 film Shadaa.
Arjun Rathod served as art director, background score was composed by Gurmeet Singh and Sandeep Saxena whereas post-production was done by Varun Bansal. Choreography for film was done by Mehul Gadani, Arvind Thakur and Sunil Thakur whereas Japneet Dhingra served as costume designer. Qismat was edited by Manish More and its final cut ran for 137 minutes. British Board of Film Classification passed the film uncut of runtime 137 minutes 21 seconds. Overseas distribution rights for the film were acquired by B4U Network Ltd. In India, the film was rated as 'U' category and passed with runtime 140 minutes.

Release and marketing

Qismat was released worldwide on 21 September 2018 and distributed by White Hill Studios with major territories India, Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. In previous two years, Ammy's two films Nikka Zaildar and Nikka Zaildar 2 in almost end of the September which were hits. So, this film is considered lucky for him and Qismat was also released in the same date.
First look of the film was shared on 14 August, then the song "Kaun Hoyega" sung by B Praak was released on 24 August and trailer of the film was released on 30 August by Speed Records and further the other songs of the film were released one by one before release of the film.

Soundtrack

Soundtrack of Qismat is composed by B Praak and Sukhe was released on label Speed Records whereas lyrics were penned by Jaani. First song of the film "Kaun Hoye Ga" sung by B Praak and Divya Bhatt was released on 24 August 2018 which received good response and trends on YouTube and other sites. Second song of the romcom "Pasand Jatt Di" sung by lead actor Ammy Virk was repeased on 5 September 2018. This song was also written by Jaani whereas music was given by Sukh-E. Third song the romantic one "Awaaz" sung by Kamal Khan was released on 11 September 2018. Lyrics of this song were also written by Jaani whereas music was composed by B Praak. Later the songs "Gallan Teriya", "Fakira" and "Dholna" were released. In an interview, Sidhu disclosed that, "Dholna" song was originally in the film Sargi but was removed in editing due to highly intense emotions of songs wasn't matching the film. He was one to add the song in the film while other opposed. Full album of Qismat was released on 21 September 2018 on Google Play Music and other websites it received the good reviews from critics and audience alike. On Google Play Music 164 users rated it 4.2 out of 5. Gurlove Singh of BookMyShow described the film's music as "soulful".

Track List

Reception

Box office

Qismat had grossed ₹19.25 crore in India and ₹11.8 crore in other territories, for a worldwide total ₹31.05 crore. It became fifth highest-grossing Punjabi film of all time, as well as second highest-grossing Punjabi film of 2018, second highest-grossing film for Ammy Virk and Sargun Mehta after their debut Angrej released in 2015.
According to Box Office India Qismat opened very good. The collections of the film were three times Shahid Kapoor's starrer Batti Gul Meter Chalu in cities of Punjab. The film opened as the second highest grosser of 2018 behind Carry On Jatta 2 also the film had eighth highest opening ever for Punjabi films. On its opening day the film grossed ₹2.3 crore and ₹1.8 crore nett in India. It collect ₹2.37 crore on its second day and took a total of ₹4.67 crore in just two days On its third day film grossed ₹2.66 crore in India making the weekend total ₹7.33 crore. According to Bollywood Hungama at overseas, the film performed better than all other Indian releases collecting ₹71.51 lacs at United States, ₹1.27 crore at Canada, ₹44.28 lacs at United Kingdom, ₹55.64 lacs at Australia and ₹17.25 lacs at New Zealand in its opening weekend. The film opened as fifth highest opening weekend of all time behind Carry On Jatta 2, Sardaar Ji, Sardaar Ji 2 and Manje Bistre also the film was announced as a huge hit after its weekend by Box Office India. In four days the film netted ₹6.03 crore at domestic box office and the Monday collections dropped just 25% from the good opening day.
In its second weekend, the film dominates even on new releases like Parahuna and Sui Dhaaga in Canada. In 10 days, the film collected ₹9 crore at overseas including ₹1.64 crore in US, ₹4.48 crore in Canada, ₹89.28 lacs in UK, ₹1.37 crore in Australia and ₹38.77 lacs in New Zealand. The film continued its blockbuster run in third week, till its third weekend film grossed ₹1.95 crore in USA, ₹5.82 crore in Canada, ₹1.24 crore in UK, ₹1.6 crore in Australia and ₹43.86 lacs in New Zealand and remained in top charts in some countries.

Critical reception

Qismat received positive reviews from audience and critics alike. All the cast and crew of the film were praised. It is also the "Top Rated" Punjabi film on IMDb.
Reviewer of the website BookMyShow titled the film as "Tearjerker". Reviewer adds, "One of the most awaited movies of 2018, Qismat manages to entertain the viewers in all respects. It funny, romantic and sad at the same time. There’s nothing that can stop this one from becoming a blockbuster." Appreciating the writer and director of the film Jagdeep Sidhu reviewer said, "Qismat is flawless. Writer Jagdeep Sidhu, who also makes his directorial debut with the movie, has conceived a beautiful journey of Ammy and Sargun’s love. He makes sure that no other character besides the lead pair gets much importance, which eventually enhances the impact of the culmination." He also appreciates the cast of the film, saying, "Qismat belongs to Ammy Virk and Sargun Mehta. They are the heart and soul of the movie. They both give equally good, well-balanced and superlative performances. You cannot help but fall in love with their on-screen chemistry. They make you smile and cry a number of times in those two hours. It’s hard to believe anyone else portraying Shivjit and Bani’s roles. Guggu Gill is at his best, while Harby Sangha is funny as always." Reviewer also adds about the film soundtrack, "B Praak and Sukh-E have provided the best soundtrack a Punjabi film has seen in many years. We won’t be surprised if Kaun hoyega, Awaaz, and Fakira will be played on repeat on every playlist." Whereas criticised the film length, "The movie stretches to 139 minutes, which feels a tad dragged. Had the first half been trimmed a bit, the impact would have been stronger." In last he adds, "Qismat makes you smile, laugh, fall in love, get separated, get together, and cry. Watch it for Ammy Virk and Sargun Mehta’s chemistry, Jagdeep Sidhu’s writing and direction, and also the soulful music. Grab your tissues and handkerchiefs and make a move towards cinema halls. This one is strongly recommended!"
Jasmine Singh of The Tribune also appreciates the Debut Director Jagdeep Sidhu, saying, "Only a few directors have managed to dabble with romance on screen, and Jagdeep Sidhu is one such director who has handled the subject with ‘love’." Reviewer adds about dialogues, "The dialogues in the film are light yet hitting, in fact it has hundred romantic pick up lines that might come to your rescue someday. The film has dollops of humorous dialogues, the credit for which goes to the dialogue writer and Ammy Virk for delivering them in such a way that even the saddest person wouldn’t help smiling." She also praised lead cast, saying, "Ammy Virk and Sargun Mehta share a strong onscreen chemistry. Ammy, makes every word he says achievable in real life. He is one effortless actor who can make the audiences laugh, cry and now, believe in true love. Sargun Mehta’s, currently one of the most talented female actresses of the industry, effortless acting and her girl-next-door image make her stand out from the entire lot." Reviewer also praised well played short roles of Guggu Gill and Harby Sangha.
Amit Arora of Times Of India rated the film as 3.0 out 5. Praised most the soundtrack of the film, saying, "The only thing that makes the first half bearable is the music. ‘Pasand Jatt Di’ and ‘Gallan Teriya’ are already a hit and even during a short drive, you are likely to catch one or the other on the radio. ‘Kaun Hoyega’ and ‘Fakira’ have been woven well into the script and Jaani and B Praak deserve credit as music directors." But on other side the reviewer criticised the tragedic scenes in the film, length of the film and chemistry between Ammy and Sargun in first half.
Punjabi website DaahFilms also gave generally positive reviews to the film. Reviewer appreciates most the performance of Ammy Virk and Sargun Mehta in the film whereas criticised some flashback scenes in the film. Adds, "These are the emotions that makes the film best." Sangeet Toor of Film Companion gave 2.0 out of 5 summarizing,
said, "The first half justifies the marketing of the movie as a romantic comedy. The second half, however, is like a buffalo that has settled in the middle of a dirty pond and has refused to jump out." Gurleen of Punjabi website Ghaint Punjab gave 4.5 stars out of 5 saying, "Qismat is not just a film but a well made example that needs to be followed by many others. Films like these are need of the hour and finally I can say, that this film was totally an Ammy-Sargun film and not carried by any one else but them."

Accolades

At Brit Asia TV Awards the film received 15 nominations including Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Director. At PTC Punjabi Film Awards 2019 film received 10 nominations including Best Actress, and Best Director and won most awards with Carry On Jatta 2, Laung Laachi, and Sajjan Singh Rangroot in the ceremony. The film won "Best Film 'Critics'", "Best Actress", "Best Debut Director", and "Best Playback Singer " awards.
AwardDate of ceremonyCategoryRecipient and nomineeResult
PTC Punjabi Film Awards 201916 March 2019Best Film Qismat
PTC Punjabi Film Awards 201916 March 2019Best DirectorJagdeep Sidhu
PTC Punjabi Film Awards 201916 March 2019Best ActressSargun Mehta
PTC Punjabi Film Awards 201916 March 2019Best Debut DirectorJagdeep Sidhu
PTC Punjabi Film Awards 201916 March 2019Best Supporting ActorGuggu Gill
PTC Punjabi Film Awards 201916 March 2019Best Playback Singer Kamal Khan
PTC Punjabi Film Awards 201916 March 2019Best Music DirectorB Praak
PTC Punjabi Film Awards 201916 March 2019Best DialoguesJagdeep Sidhu
PTC Punjabi Film Awards 201916 March 2019Best ScreenplayJagdeep Sidhu
PTC Punjabi Film Awards 201916 March 2019Best StoryJagdeep Sidhu
PTC Punjabi Film Awards 201916 March 2019Best Background ScoreGurmeet Singh, Sandeep Saxena
Brit Asia TV Awards30 March 2019Best FilmQismat
Brit Asia TV Awards30 March 2019Best ActorAmmy Virk
Brit Asia TV Awards30 March 2019Best ActressSargun Mehta
Brit Asia TV Awards30 March 2019Best DirectorJagdeep Sidhu
Brit Asia TV Awards30 March 2019Best Debut PerformanceTania
Brit Asia TV Awards30 March 2019Best Female Playback SingerDivya Bhatt
Brit Asia TV Awards30 March 2019Best Female Playback SingerNeetu Bhalla
Brit Asia TV Awards30 March 2019Best Male Playback SingerKamal Khan
Brit Asia TV Awards30 March 2019Best Male Playback SingerAmmy Virk
Brit Asia TV Awards30 March 2019Best Male Playback SingerB Praak
Brit Asia TV Awards30 March 2019Best Supporting ActressTania

Sequel

In an interview director Jagdeep Sidhu told, "Qismat movie team is working on to bring another movie with good content. This team includes Ammy Virk, Sargun Mehta, Jagdeep Sidhu, Jaani and B Praak. They are all set to entertain the audience with another Punjabi movie but the title of that movie is not yet finalized. Jagdeep have told that may be they will give it title Qismat 2 or they will decide something else related to the movie." Also, Sidhu shared a post on Instagram writing "Based on Soni-Paalo and Bazi Pichi" and captioned "writing start". In May 2019, he confirmed the sequel with same crew. In July 2019, Virk also confirmed the film on his official social media handles. On 11 September 2019, Sidhu released the title poster of Qismat 2 with the release date as 18 September 2020.