{{about|cinema of Punjab, India|cinema of Punjab, Pakistan|Lollywood

Punjabi cinema is the Punjabi language film industry in the states of Punjab in India and Pakistan. This article deals with Punjabi cinema in India.

The first Punjabi film was released in Lahore, provincial capital of the Pakistani Punjab. The Lahore film industry is known as Lollywood, a portmanteau of the words Lahore and Hollywood.

As of 2009, the Punjabi film industry has produced between 900 and 1,000 films.^{[citation needed]} The average number of releases per year in the 1970s was nine; in the 1980s, eight; and in the 1990s, six. In 1995, the number of films released was 11; it plummeted to seven in 1996 and touched a low of five in 1997. Since the 2000s Punjabi cinema has seen a revival with more releases every year with bigger budgets, home grown stars, and Bollywood actors of Punjabi descent taking part.

K.D. Mehra made the first Punjabi "talkie" film, Sheila, also known as Pind Di Kudi in 1936. Young Noor Jehan was introduced as an actress and singer in this film. Sheila was made in Calcutta and released in Lahore. It ran very successfully and was a hit across the province.^{[citation needed]} Due to the success of this film more producers started making Punjabi films. K.D. Mehra made his second film, Heer Sial (1938), with the assistance of M.M. Billoo Mehra. This film had Noor Jehan and new artists Balo and M. Ismail. This film was commercially successful.

Jasbir Jassi (Punjabi: ਜਸਬੀਰ ਜੱਸੀ; born February 7, 1970 in Dalla Mirjanpur Village, Gurdaspur, Punjab, India) is a Punjabi singer and actor. As of 2010^[update] he has released eight albums, his first pop album being Dil Le Gayee, released in 1998.

As a child, Jassi played the harmonium. He quit engineering to study classical music under V.S. Jolly and later under Puran Shah Koti of the Sufiana fame. Ustad Shaukat Ali Khan and Baba Kashmira Singh also heavily influenced his singing style. He holds a Masters degree in classical vocal music from Apeejay College of Fine Arts, Jalandhar.^{[citation needed]}

Jassi, a first generation musician, participated in many musical plays like “Sadha Bugdu Bulo.” He was widely noticed due to the performances he gave for the North Zone Cultural Centre. Jasbir Jassi then started recording for Punjabi films including Passport and Zakhmi^{[citation needed]} in the late 1980s.^[when?] He also sang for remix albums such as Balle Balbiro Balle. His first album release was the 1993 low-profile Channa Ve Teri Channani. He featured along with Charanjit Ahuja in the music video of “Channa ve Teri Channi”. This was followed-up with a string of hit albums - ‘Dil Le Gayee’(1998), ‘Kudi Kudi’(1999), ‘Nishani Pyar Di’(2001), ‘Just Jassi’(2003), ‘Mukhda Chann Varga’(2004) and ‘Akh Mastani’(2007). Jassi - Back with a Bang is his latest album, featuring the songs "Mehndi" and title song "Bang". It was released on 16 July 2010 worldwide.

Jimmy Shergill (Punjabi: ਜਿੰਮੀ ਸ਼ੇਰਗਿਲ)(born 3 December 1970), is an Indian Actor and Film Producer who works in Hindi and Punjabi film's. His real name is Jasjit Singh Shergill

Shergill was born in a Jatt Sikh family in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. He moved to Punjab, the place of his ancestors, in 1985 where he studied in Yadavindra Public School, Patiala and Bikram College Patiala. He learnt acting from Sri Harpal Singh, and then moved to Mumbai to work in the entertainment industry. He's married to Priyanka Puri from Delhi and they have a son named Veer Shergill.

Shergill started his acting career in 1996 with the critically acclaimed film Maachis directed by Gulzar based on terrorism in Punjab. The film did reasonably well at the box office and got him noticed by all the top filmmakers in the industry which led him to being cast in Aditya Chopra's Mohabbatein alongside stalwarts like Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, and Aishwarya Rai. He's consistently won rave reviews for all his performances in films like Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai, Haasil, Munna Bhai MBBS, Yahaan, Lage Raho Munnabhai, Eklavya: The Royal Guard, A Wednesday, My Name is Khan, Tanu Weds Manu, and Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster.

Diljit (born 6 January 1984; as Diljit Singh Dosanjh) is a Punjabi singer and film actor.

Diljit Dosanjh debuted with his album Ishq Da Uda Ada. It was released by T-Series. He has come out with 6 albums so far.His most successful album, The Next Level is also his most recent.

Diljit made his acting debut in the Punjabi action flick, The Lion of Punjab which opened to negative reviews from critics, though managed to end up successful at the box office. In 2011, he starred in the critically acclaimed Jihne Mera Dil Luteya which turned out to be a critical and commercial blockbuster. Critics praised Diljit's comic performance in the film. In February 2012 he was seen in the Hindi romance film Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya, in which he appeared in a guest appearance through the song "Pee Pa Pee Pa" which he also sang. His first official release of 2012 is announced to be a love story Jatt & Juliet opposite Neeru Bajwa, it's currently under-production, and will be released on 29 June 2012. His next Jatt Romantic pairs him opposite Neeru Bajwa again and is directed by leading Bollywood director Dharmesh Darshan.

Neeru Bajwa (Punjabi: ਨੀਰੂ ਬਾਜਵਾ; born 26 August 1980) is an Indian actress who started her career with Dev Anand in the bollywood film Main Solah Baras Ki and then moved onto working in Indian Soap Opera's and Punjabi Films. Her real name is Arshvir Bajwa.

She was born and brought up in Vancouver, British Columbia. In her documentary film Bollywood Bound she admits to being a high school drop out who had little interest in studies and was always stricken by the glamour of Bollywood, so she moved to Mumbai to chase her dreams. She was engaged to television actor Amit Sadh, according to her interview they lived in together and were set to marry in December 2005 but broke off the relationship after being together for eight years.

She started her career in Indian Soap Opera's in 2003 with Hari Mirchi Lal Mirchi on DD1 before moving on to Astitva...Ek Prem Kahani on Zee TV followed by Jeet on Star Plus and then Guns and Roses on Star One where she met ex-fiance Amit Sadh.

She appeared in her first Punjabi video in 2003 for Punjabi singer Kamal Heer for the song Kainthey Wala. She went on to do several other Punjabi videos for different artists like Hey Soniye with Silinder Pardesi, Juggy D, Rishi Rich.^{[citation needed]} and recently she was seen in Gippy Grewal`s music video Daang from his album Desi Rockstar.^{[citation needed]} She