'Film-making fascinated me', says Sewak Cheema, Punjabi-Canadian director

Sewak Cheema Director Diary: The urge to make a music video among other works: Sevak Cheema is a Punjabi-Canadian director who has worked in Brampton since 2019.

His music videos have been featured by many Punjabi artists including Gurlez Akhtar, Ravneet (Kantini Mandir) Savi, Sharan Sidhu, and Raj Fatehpur. In recent years he has directed videos for songs such as "Pat Leanheng" by Gurleys Akhtar, which went viral on YouTube.

In 2016, Sewak worked as an assistant director with another director in Amritsar. As an assistant director, Sewak had no creative control over projects or campaigns; all they did was assist with planning, such as casting models or finding locations where shoots could be held such as buildings or outdoor areas.

‘Loved film-making since childhood’, says Sevak Cheema

He told that he was huge fan of Hollywood movies, and he and his brother used to watch a lot of Hollywood movies. Film-making fascinated me since I was a teenager. It is an art, hard work, and time-consuming as well as creative. He started his film career as an assistant director and later on became an independent filmmaker/director based in Chandigarh, Punjab.

Entry into the Punjabi music industry

The desire to learn more about the art of film-making led me into the Punjabi Music Industry industry. The first few years were tough, but I got my chance in 2018 when I directed a music video for singer Shavi. This was the turning point in my career as an independent filmmaker and since then, I have been involved with over 30 music videos in different capacities including Director, Producer, and Editor.

I am fascinated by what goes on behind the scenes of a music video shoot - right from conceptualizing an idea to executing it perfectly; every step requires an immense amount of thought and brainstorming which is why I enjoy working with this genre so much!

Directing music video

Soon after moving to Chandigarh, I met Raj Fatehpur for a project, he was impressed by my work and recommended my name for directing the music video for ‘Akhri Salaam by artist Sharan Sidhu which was released in 2017. He also worked with him on many music videos. The ones that are still popular.

During this time frame, he shot 10 Music video songs for various artists in one year that were released during that period. The most important point was he did his best and make a mark in the industry with these videos. He made sure to take care of all the details while making these music videos because they were his first works and also, and they had a great impact on his career as well as on him personally.

About struggles and challenges

It was not an easy task to work with such big names in the industry but I had an urge in me that made it easier for me to work with them without any tension or fear of failure.

He is a big fan of music videos, and he watches them regularly. There are some directors that he said admires him, like Jashan Nanarh, Baljeet Singh Deo, and so on. Their works inspire him to make music videos too!

I feel that if you love something then there's no reason why it won't work out for you; passion is what makes the difference between success and failure in film-making.

This is what he has been doing so far, and we are hoping to see more music videos from him in the future. He said his next goal is to make a short film.