Tirlok Malik discusses Jimmy Shergill’s new film “Maa Jaye,” partly filmed in New York

Our Bureau

New York, NY

Some films don’t just play on a screen—they seep into your soul, like an old melody you find yourself humming again and again. Maa Jaye is one such film, a stirring tribute to the unshakeable bonds of family, the tender but unyielding love between brothers, and the universal ache of longing for home. At the heart of its New York chapter is Emmy-nominated filmmaker Tirlok Malik, whose life’s work has been an extended love letter to the Indian-American experience. For Malik, Maa Jaye is not merely another project—it is “a feather in the cap of Punjabi cinema,” a story that reminds us when a family stands together, what life can be emotionally.

The film’s emotional anchor lies in its story—drawn from Dr. Amarjit Singh’s moving memoir ‘Walking with Billa Veer Ji’—of two brothers bound by love and sacrifice. To bring these moments to life, Tirlok Malik led his Apple Production Inc. team to capture all the New York scenes full of emotions and great production values as envisioned by Director Navaniat Singh, DOP Jitan Harmeet Singh and team. Navaniat and Jitan’s legendary cinematographer father, Harmeet Singh, was also there to bless the entire team during the New York schedule of the film.

Many locations in New York City and Long Island featured in the film, including the Gurudwara Guru Nanak Darbar of Long Island, Gurdwara Baba Makhan Shah Lubana, and The Mill River Club, Oyster Bay. There was a lot of support from the Indian community all across the city, such as Patel Brothers in Hicksville and Prof. Indrajit S. Saluja, publisher of The Indian Panorama, among others. The support from the community, and the Gurudwaras was very much appreciated by the cast and crew.

The New York segments breathe with Tirlok Malik’s own affection for the city—a metropolis he knows as intimately as the back of his hand. Winter light glints off the East River, streets hum with the rhythm of many tongues, the scent of fresh rotis mingles with the smell of bagels in Hicksville. Cameras rolled in the warm embrace of the Gurudwara Guru Nanak Darbar of Long Island, where prayers rose in unison, and in the bustling aisles of Hicksville, where laughter, spices, and the rustle of shopping bags felt like echoes from a Punjab half a world away. To bring these moments to life, Tirlok Malik led his Apple Production Inc. team with trademark precision and heart that Malik brings every time he is line producing a film in the US. Malik was assisted by filmmaker Sneha Jain.

Working alongside Jimmy Shergill, whose quiet intensity illuminates the screen, film’s lead actress Rehmat Rattan, director Navaniat Singh, a master at weaving emotion into every frame, screenwriter Gurpreet Sehji, and producer Dr. Amarjit Singh (under his banner 1212 Entertainment), whose life inspired the narrative, was, in Malik’s words, “a great experience and shared purpose to make meaningful cinema.”

For Tirlok Malik, Maa Jaye carries the same emotional resonance as his own directorial Khushiyaan, another deeply felt story about an NRI son, also enriched with music by Jaidev Kumar. Both films, he says, “celebrate the love Punjabis are known for—love that survives distance, time, and loss.”

Tirlok Malik is proud to be a part of Maa Jaye and recommends everyone to see the film. “As the credits will roll on Maa Jaye, audiences will carry home not just a cinematic story, but a thought-provoking emotional experience,” sums up Tirlok Malk.

Maa Jaye, co-starring Manav Vij, Yograj Singh, James Cronin, Bruce Pearl, Bridgett Riesterer-Haines, Dino Castelli, Kelly C. Fox, and Anita Meet, is releasing on August 29, 2025, worldwide by White Hill Studios.