Gurpreet Ghuggi

Some Lesser Known Facts About Gurpreet Ghuggi

• Does Gurpreet Ghuggi consume alcohol?: No, he is a teetotaller. ^[5]PTC Punjabi YouTube

• Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi is an Indian comic actor and politician. Ghuggi, a household name in Punjab, has been working in the entertainment industry for more than three decades. He has appeared in a number of Punjabi films like ‘Yaran Naal Baharan’ (2005) and ‘Carry On Jatta’ (2012). He has also played roles in a few Bollywood films including Dharmendra Starrer ‘Apne’ (2007) and Akshay Kumar‘s action-comedy film ‘Singh Is King.’ (2008) The actor-comedian has also enjoyed the stature of a politician as a convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party for its Punjab unit from September 2016 to May 2017.

• A native of Khokhar Faujian village, located in the Gurdaspur district of Punjab, Gurpreet Ghuggi was born and raised in Jalandhar as his family had moved to Jalandhar before his birth for setting up a business.
  

• Gurpreet Ghuggi’s first job was at around 15 years of age, just after he had passed class 10, as a daily-wage clerk outside Kartarpur Sahib Tehsil, writing Bayana agreements (an Indian term used for a formal agreement between buyer and seller to illustrate the token money that is given to a landlord for suspending the negotiations on a particular) for people. He earned Rs. 5-10 per day from the job. He would give the money he was left with at the end of the day to his father, as his family was going through a financial crisis in the aftermath of a tremendous loss that had led to a huge dip in his father’s business.

• Gurpreet Ghuggi has done a lot of struggle and hard work behind the curtain to reach the position where he is at today. He has had a hectic schedule since he was a teenager. After finishing his 8 am to 6 pm job as a clerk for Tehsildar, Ghuggi would travel from Kartarpur to Apeejay College of Fine Arts, Jalandhar, to attend his drama class, and then walk 5 kms back to his home. His daily schedule would not end there. After coming back from drama class at Apeejay, Ghuggi would eat his dinner and then go for acting rehearsals with his fellow artists of Rehnuma, a drama group formed by Ghuggi comprising 15-20 acting artists. He used to return home from rehearsals at around 1 am and then go back to work at 8 in the morning. This schedule continued for two years until Ghuggi passed class 12 through open school.

• After passing class 12, Gurpreet enrolled himself at Jalandhar’s Doaba College in 1991. Considering his financial condition and acting talent, the college gave him 100 percent freeship upon admission.

• During his college days, he also worked as a casual announcer at All India Radio (AIR) for which he used to get 200 rupees per duty. He used to do 6 duties in a month.

• In the very first year of his college, Gurpreet Ghuggi won the Best Actor award for his performance at the 1991 GNDU Youth Festival. This achievement was a huge boost for his confidence. Ghuggi made youth festival and college drama competitions a way to get himself recognised and started getting roles in theatrical plays.

• His first TV play was ‘Champion,’ telecast on DD Punjabi in the early 90s’. He played the role of a Sikh athlete in the play. Here is an episode from the play.

• Initially, a Punjabi actor at Jalandhar Doordarshan, Ghuggi got a breakthrough after he was cast in the comedy series “Raunak Mela.” While shooting the series, he met Balvinder Bicky (popular by his character name, Chacha Raunki Ram), who was also a part of the cast. Under Bicky’s mentorship, Ghuggi, who had only been playing serious roles till then, shifted his genre to comedy. Balwinder Bicky was also the man who gave Gurpreet his iconic name Ghuggi. Here is a video of Ghuggi’s live stage performance with his mentor Balwinder Vicky at Miss Punjab 1996, held on 27 January 1996.

• Gradually, Ghuggi became active in the Punjabi entertainment industry with a lot of Punjabi films, acting in supporting and lead roles. His performances in comedy series like Ghuggi Khol Pitari, Ghuggi Juction (2003), and movies like Carry On Jatta (2012), were highly appreciated by the viewers.

• He received national recognition among the Indian audience after participating as a contestant in the Indian stand-up comedy show The Great Indian Laughter Challenge.

• On 10 February 2016, Gurpreet Singh Waraich ventured into politics by joining the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party.
  

  

  In September 2016, just six months after he joined the party, Ghuggi was named the convenor of Aam Aadmi Party’s Punjab unit.

  

  His time in politics did not last long as he resigned from his primary membership of AAP after he was replaced as the state convenor by Bhagwant Mann. Talking about the reason behind his resignation, Gurpreet Singh stated,

  I cannot work under the leadership of a person who has been appointed on the condition that he will not drink (liquor).”

• In 2020, Ghuggi started a new talk show called Hasdeyaan De Ghar Vasde on Zee Punjabi and Zee5. Here is an episode featuring Kapil Sharma as a guest on the show.