His songs top the charts, he has some 12 million social media followers and loves his Lamborghini and Mercedes G Wagon. But Punjabi singer-rapper Parmish Verma says he is still the middle class boy who would save up the Rs 10 he got twice a month so he could have a burger and cold drink together.
The 34-year-old “Gaal Ni Kadni” singer, who will soon be seen as an actor in the series “Kanneda”, is still the schoolboy whose dreams were bigger than his everyday reality.
"I have sacrificed my whole life for my dreams and I will do that going forward too but the right way... It's not hard work, it's consistency that gets you there. You have to show up every single day, look your goal in the eye, and say 'See, I'm shameless and I am back again'," Verma told PTI during a visit to the news agency's headquarters.
The rapper, who has over 8.6 million followers on Instagram and 3.32 million on YouTube, said he has always been a driven guy with big dreams.
"I used to get Rs 10 twice a month as a schoolboy and I would save it the first time so that when I got Rs 10 next, I'd buy both cold drink and burger. I count myself middle class in that context. I saw the world because I went to a nice school... (But) there were international trips and I would say I'm unwell because I didn't have money for those trips," Verma said.
Known for hits like “Rubicon Drill”, “Aam Jeha Munde", "Le Chak Main Aa Gya" and "No Reasons", Verma grew up in Patiala and now spends his time shuttling between Canada and India, including Mohali. Both his parents were professors and he knew from a young age that there was a world out there he knew nothing about.
When he was 19, Verma moved to Australia in a well-paying office job. The showbiz bug had bitten hard but he didn't want to burden his parents.
"I knew how to make money. I was making over AUD 100,000 in Australia. I had that option but I wanted to act. No matter how much time it took, I was ready for it. I say you can buy a jet by doing hard work but getting even a scooter by troubling your father is wrong," he said.
"I knew my family's condition. I always knew how much money my parents had. What else does a middle-class person have if not patience?"
Describing his childhood, Verma said he was not good in studies. Through his father, who is also a writer and a playwright, he was exposed to stage, dance and poetry and that's where his acting dreams took shape.
Like any middle-class boy he chose practicality over dreams and enrolled in a hotel management course.
"Even though I was relatively young and naive, I knew what I could ask for at home and what I couldn't. I didn't tell my father that I wanted to become an actor because I knew that it was not possible. Perhaps my father would have sent me by borrowing money, I felt I was 18 and it was high time to be independent."
After one semester, Verma said he confessed to his father that his heart was not in it and he wanted to go abroad. Australia, Verma said, felt like an escape from responsibilities and problems.
"He (my father) knew that I wanted to become an actor but I never said this to him. It wouldn't have been fair on my dad because I had seen him work so hard his whole life. I think he needed a break."
Verma finally had a good job and financial security. He had almost given up on his aspirations when his father called him back.
“So I came back to India and I went to Bombay. I struggled and got a TV serial, a very good opportunity at the time. But I missed Punjab. I was like... I spent so many years in Australia and now that I am back, I am still away from home, parents and friends and my roots. I was unhappy. I decided that I cannot be in Mumbai, it has to be either Australia or Punjab."
The Punjabi film industry was not very big at the time and he realised that he will have to hustle further. According to Verma, the next big thing was the music industry, which was growing at the time.
"I started getting cameos in music videos. I became a video director… I continued to knock on that door for 10 years and it finally opened. It has been a long journey."
Somewhere along this road, he met his Indian origin Canadian wife Guneet Grewal, a politician.
Though Verma's songs are chartbusters, he has his own label Parmish Verma Films and has acted in Punjabi films, Verma realised that he had finally made it when he stepped onto the set of the JioHotstar show "Kanneda".
"From the first videos I did, I had sported a beard, which became my identity of sorts. But the makers of 'Kanneda' asked me to shave my beard. I told the director, 'Sir, I have this many followers and people identify me by my beard'. He said they chose me because of my audition. I realised they believed in my acting skills and didn't want what I had already achieved."
In "Kanneda", Verma essays the role of Nimma, who gets drawn into the world of gangs in Canada where his family settles after the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He could identify with the character due to his experience as an immigrant in Australia.
"I have seen migration and I knew that people who get uprooted at such a young age, it is not a happy environment for them. And the show is based in late 80s, Nimma moves to Canada after the 1984 genocide.
“Now I have not felt or seen that emotion first hand but my mother was in Delhi when this happened. She comes from a Sikh family so I know how painful and traumatic the experience was," he said.
The show uses the emerging Punjabi rap scene in Canada at the time to further the narrative through songs such as "Assin Munde Aan Punjab De", "Desiya Da Daur", "Je Dar Kolon Daronge", "Saah" and "Gori Police".
Verma has now built a writer's room in his home in Mohali and is focused on acting and backing character-driven stories from his land. He has already directed and starred in the 2024 Punjabi film "Tabaah" with Wamiqa Gabbi.
The first car Verma drove was his father's Santro. He has moved a long way since and has splurged on luxury cars, including a much photographed lime green Lamborghini and his “dream car” Mercedes G Wagon.
