Interview: Pavia Sidhu & Yugam Sood – Dear Jassi

A tale as old as time, and tragically a tale that was never meant to be. As the true story goes, Jaswinder “Jassi” Kaur haphazardly (one can say love at first sight) fell for Sukhwinder Singh Sidhu (nicknamed “Mithu”) but the forces (family, the legal system, corrupt police) tried in vain to keep them apart. Fast-forward two plus decades later and Tarsem Singh returned to his homeland to film Dear Jassi with fresh-faced tandem playing star-crossed lovers who can escape their fate but for a fraction of a second.

Plucked from obscurity, Pavia Sidhu and Yugam Sood play the unlikely pairing and let’s just say that cinema magic dust made its way onto set. Premiering at the 2023 Toronto Intl. Film Festival and winner of the Platform section’s top prize, I got to sit down with Pavia and Yugam and the 2023 Red Sea Film Festival – got to discuss the first day jitters, how it was to work with Tarsem (on a two month shoot) and the weight of playing real people.