Jaswinder Bhalla was probably a part of your childhood if you watched Punjabi comedies.
His jokes were more than just catchphrases; they were small truths about how we laugh, live, and occasionally make mistakes in life. And Punjab felt a little more at ease on August 22, 2025, when it was announced that he had died in Mohali at the age of 65 from a brain hemorrhage.
He was first a scholar, having obtained a PhD in Extension Education and taught at Punjab Agricultural University before rising to the position of department head.
He was born in Ludhiana in 1960. Consider this: a man dressed as a professor by day, and by night, assuming the persona of Advocate Dhillon or Chacha Chatar Singh, causing whole families to erupt in laughter.
It all started in 1988 with the audio-visual series Chhankata, which went on to become a sensation. Punjab had long anticipated his satirical sketches, in which Bhalla would wittily capture the peculiarities of both contemporary society and village life. Those tapes were social mirrors, not just comedies.
Then the movies started. He established himself as a mainstay of Punjabi cinema with roles in Mahaul Theek Hai, Carry On Jatta, Jatt & Juliet, Sardaar Ji, and even his last movie, Shinda Shinda No Papa, released in 2024.
His characters were always more than just "comic relief"; they were culturally significant and made you laugh
while also getting you to think.
Naturally, Bhalla received the Gopal Sehgal Award, the Mohammad Rafi Award, and the PTC Punjabi Film Awards, but the greatest honor he received was the love he received. "Oh, we've laughed at his jokes at least once," is a common response from Punjabi households.
His death has created void. He was described as "a voice of Punjab's conscience wrapped in humor" by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. The characters that have become part of Punjabi folklore, old recordings, conversations we still quote, and our living rooms are all haunted by it.
Some people leave books behind, while others leave buildings. Perhaps the most enduring legacy of all is theis the laughter that Jaswinder Bhalla left behind.