ਬਿਨੂੰ ਢਿੱਲੋਂਬਿਨੂੰ ਢਿੱਲੋਂ

Binnu Dhillon is a Punjabi actor, comedian and producer from Dhuri in Sangrur district, best known as Goldy Dhillon in the Carry On Jatta films. Trained in theatre and television at Punjabi University, Patiala, he worked his way from bhangra stages and television serials to the front rank of Punjabi film comedy.

Early life and training

Binnu Dhillon was born on 29 August 1975 in Dhuri, a town in the Sangrur district of Punjab, in the Malwa region. He was schooled in Dhuri and grew up in a Punjabi speaking world that later filled his screen characters, from their dialect to their family quarrels.

Instead of arriving in films by chance, he trained for the stage. At Punjabi University, Patiala, he completed a postgraduate degree in theatre and television, acted in student productions and then performed with the department repertory company. Repertory work, with its nightly demand for voice control, timing and improvisation, became the foundation of his comedy.

Before acting took over, he was also a bhangra performer and danced at Indian festivals in Germany and the United Kingdom. That early experience of holding a live crowd, in a language many in the audience did not speak, taught him how much comedy can be carried by rhythm, expression and physical timing alone.

From television to films

His screen career began on television. He made his debut in the serial Parchhawain in 1998, written and directed by Gurbir Singh Grewal, and went on to appear in a long run of Punjabi serials, among them Sarhad, Lori, Gaoundi Dharti, Sirnaave, Man Jeetey Jag Jeet, Channo Chan Vargi, Professor Money Plant and Jugnu Hazir Hai. He also acted in telefilms such as Khara Dudh and Khich Ghuggi Khich.

Film roles followed slowly at first. He played small parts in the Hindi films Shaheed-E-Azam (2002) and Dev.D (2009), and built a body of Punjabi work through the 2000s in films such as Nalaik, Mitti Wajaan Maardi and Kaun Kise Da Beli. By 2010 he was taking substantial roles, including Bhagat in Ekam: Son of Soil and Ranjit in Chhevan Dariya.

The stage never left his life. In 2010 he directed the play Naughty Baba in Town, which was performed in the United States and Canada, a sign of how strongly the Punjabi diaspora had already begun to follow Punjabi theatre and comedy.

What is Binnu Dhillon best known for?

Binnu Dhillon is best known as Goldy Dhillon in Carry On Jatta (2012), the ensemble comedy that became a landmark of the modern Punjabi film revival. His Goldy, caught inside a plot built on mistaken marriages and hidden wives, gave audiences a comic character who was loud, warm and completely without malice.

The role turned a busy supporting career into stardom. Through 2012 and 2013 he appeared in Sirphire, Raula Pai Gaya, Tu Mera 22 Main Tera 22, Lucky Di Unlucky Story and Rangeelay, and the Carry On Jatta team returned in Carry On Jatta 2 (2018) and Carry On Jatta 3 (2023), with Dhillon again playing Goldy in both sequels.

Leading roles and range

As a lead actor he carried Mr & Mrs 420 (2014), in which he played three roles, and added hits such as Goreyan Nu Daffa Karo. He also showed a quieter register in period and family films: Aslam in Angrej (2015), the lead role of Taaji in Channo Kamli Yaar Di (2016) and Resham Singh in Bambukat (2016), a railway official whose pride in his post slowly softens.

He led Vekh Baraatan Challiyan (2017) as Jaggi Waraich, a man put through a series of humiliations by superstition around marriage, and followed it with Vadhayiyaan Ji Vadhayiyaan (2018), which he also co-produced. In Kala Shah Kala (2019) he played the romantic lead opposite Sargun Mehta, and the same year he produced and starred in Jhalle.

His later work kept the balance between comedy and family drama: Jinne Jamme Saare Nikamme and Fuffad Ji in 2021, Gol Gappe, Maujaan Hi Maujaan and Gaddi Jaandi Ae Chalaangaan Maardi in 2023, a role in the Hindi action film Fateh (2025), and the Punjabi horror comedy Pind Peya Saara Jombieland Baneya in 2025. A sequel, Bambukat 2, brought him back as Resham Singh in 2026.

ਸਨਮਾਨ

His performances have been recognised at the Filmfare Awards Punjabi. He won Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Bambukat at the 2017 awards, where the award citation noted how he played both the character pride and his change of heart. At the 2018 awards he won Best Actor (Critics) for Vekh Baraatan Challiyan.

Producing and personal life

Dhillon works through his own company, Binnu Dhillon Production, and his credits behind the camera include co-producing Bailaras and Vadhayiyaan Ji Vadhayiyaan and producing Jhalle. He has also worked as a television presenter, returning to the medium where he started.

He is married to Gurjinder Kaur and the couple have two daughters. He keeps his family life private and rarely discusses it in interviews, preferring to let the work speak in public.

Legacy

Binnu Dhillon's importance is in the craft he brought to Punjabi comedy. At a time when the industry was rebuilding, his theatre training gave its biggest comedies a professional discipline: rehearsed timing, clear character work and jokes built on situation rather than noise. For audiences in Punjab and across the diaspora, Goldy Dhillon remains one of the defining faces of that revival.