Parmish Vermaਪਰਮੀਸ਼ ਵਰਮਾ

Parmish Verma (born 3 July 1990) is a Punjabi singer, rapper, actor and music video director from Patiala. He first made his name directing videos for other artists, broke through as a singer with Gaal Ni Kadni, and in 2025 led the Hindi web series Kanneda on JioHotstar.

Early life and family

Verma was born in Patiala, Punjab. His father, Dr Satish Verma, is a professor, theatre artist and writer, and his mother, Paramjit Kaur, is also a professor. He has a brother, Sukhan Verma, and a sister, Sherry Rana. Growing up in a home where teaching and theatre were everyday life gave him an early closeness to performance, long before he thought of it as a career.

As a young man he went to Australia. The years there were difficult, and that experience later became central to his work: the hard time he faced living abroad, and advice he received from Gurikk Maan, son of singer Gurdas Maan, shaped the story he would tell in his first major directing work. He eventually returned to India to pursue acting and music.

From video director to singer

Verma started behind the camera. His early directing work Zimmewari Bhukh Te Doori, whose title points to responsibility, hunger and distance, drew directly on his own adolescent experience in Australia. He went on to direct music videos for many leading Punjabi artists, including Ninja, Sharry Mann, Akhil, Mankirt Aulakh and Dilpreet Dhillon. Videos such as Thokda Reha, Aadat, Khaab, Hostel and 3 Peg made him one of the most sought after video directors in the industry.

Singing came next. His own songs began with Le Chakk Main Aa Gaya in 2017, and Gaal Ni Kadni turned him into a household name across Punjab and the diaspora. A run of singles followed, among them Shada, Kach Pakke Yaar, Sab Fade Jange, 4 Yaar, Chal Oye, Ja Ve Ja, Aam Jahe Munde, Diamond Da Challa with Neha Kakkar, Shadgi, Neat and Meri Marzi, and later Zindagi, Dekhi Dekhi and Caran Caran in 2022. Many of his best known tracks were made with composer duo Desi Crew and lyricist Laddi Chahal, and released through his own Parmish Verma Films label as well as major Punjabi labels.

Films: Rocky Mental to Tabaah

Verma made his acting debut in the Punjabi film Rocky Mental in 2017. In 2019 he played the lead in Singham, the Punjabi remake of the Hindi film of that name, and wrote and directed Dil Diyan Gallan, in which he also starred. He followed it with Jinde Meriye in 2020, directed by Pankaj Batra, and Main Te Bapu in 2022, which he produced and in which he appeared alongside his father.

In 2024 he directed and starred in Tabaah, opposite Wamiqa Gabbi. The film was also his debut as a producer. Speaking to The Tribune, Verma said he had known from the start that audiences might appreciate the film even more on streaming than in cinemas, and that he chose it deliberately over a safer romantic comedy because he wanted to widen his range as an actor beyond action and romance.

What is Kanneda about?

Kanneda is an eight episode Hindi crime drama series that premiered on JioHotstar on 21 March 2025, directed by Chandan Arora. Verma plays Nimma, a young Punjabi man who reaches Canada in the aftermath of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and is drawn toward crime in a country where he arrives with nothing. The series mixes mafia, music and the immigrant struggle, and carries five songs that Verma describes as a musical summary of the show.

The role asked for a visible change. Verma, who had never appeared clean shaven on screen, agreed after some persuasion to shave off his beard so the character would be built through acting rather than appearance. He told The Tribune the change fed into his performance, and that after Tabaah he had also decided his next project should let him focus on acting alone, without dividing his attention between acting, directing and producing.

What happened to Parmish Verma in 2018?

In April 2018 Verma was shot at in Sector 91, Mohali, while returning home. Police said a bullet hit his leg and that his friend travelling with him was also injured. He was admitted to hospital, was reported out of danger, and later recovered. A gangster, Dilpreet Singh, publicly claimed responsibility for the attack at the time, and police registered a case including attempt to murder. Verma later spoke of the attack as an experience that changed his outlook, and he returned to work, releasing music and films in the years that followed.

Personal life and legacy

Verma married Canadian politician Guneet Grewal on 20 October 2021. Their daughter, Sadaa, was born on 30 September 2022. His family roots are in Sunam in Sangrur district, while Patiala remained the city of his birth and upbringing.

Within a decade Verma moved through almost every job in Punjabi entertainment: video director, singer, rapper, actor, writer, director and producer. That range, and a personal story that runs from a difficult start in Australia to a leading role in a national streaming series about the Punjabi immigrant experience, is what makes him a representative figure of his generation of Punjabi artists.