The trailer for The Great Punjab Robbery launched on July 22 with the film’s cast and director Saurabh Varma present at the event. Varma when asked why he chose a heist to tell what a story of rebellion and emotion is really, he said, “I didn’t want to tell another conventional story. We’ve already seen countless dramas and thrillers across OTT platforms and films, so I wanted to avoid familiar territory. That’s what led me to the heist genre- it brought a fresh layer of suspense, high stakes, and drama, giving the film the edge and intensity I was looking for”.At the centre of the plot are three robbers who go by the names Stapler, Bouncer and Charger. They walk into the Great Punjab Bank and take seventeen people hostage, but instead of demanding a ransom, they send the police a string of puzzles, turning what looks like a simple robbery into a drawn-out standoff of nerve and strategy. Raj Kundra plays Stapler, Mahabir Bhullar plays Bouncer, and Garvita Sadhwani plays Charger, with Payal Rajput, Paramveer Singh, Ankit Sagar, Amit Behl, Vidhi Khanna and Kulvir Soni rounding up the cast.This year leans heavily on the thriller genre across the industry, in Bollywood and Pollywood alike, and The Great Punjab Robbery joins that wave. The film marks Garvita Sadhwani’s debut, while Raj Kundra returns for his second Punjabi outing.Kundra was also asked whether his wife, actress Shilpa Shetty, would ever act in a Punjabi film. He said, “Jitna hamara budget hota hai, utni uski remuneration hoti hai.” Kundra intends to ask her to do a film someday purely for the sake of Punjab, budget aside.For Ankit Sagar, working in the film was a learning curve. “Aap padhte hain script aur aap uspar dheere dheere khud utarte jaate hain (you read the script and you grow into it as you go). Varma, drawing the comparison himself, said, “Mere favourite hai Sanjeev Kumar aur yeh hamari film k Sanjeev Kumar hai,” naming veteran actor Sanjeev Kumar as his favourite and calling Sagar the film’s equivalent.The lighter moments came from the cast itself. Bhullar praised Kundra for knowing his lines better than the director and writer Saurabh then turned around and teased Paramveer Singh saying “Isko to ek bhi line yaad nahi rehti (He doesn’t remember his lines at all).The film opens in theatres worldwide on August 7.