Some shoots stay with you long after the cameras stop rolling. This was one of them.

We spent several days in Morinda, Punjab from scouting the location to two full shoot days bringing the latest Mahindra Tractors music video, featuring Sukhbir and Parmish Verma, to life. What started as a straightforward production brief turned into one of those experiences that reminds you why this industry gets under your skin: unpredictable, exhausting, and ultimately worth every second.

The Brief

Simple, on paper: an authentic Punjabi music video. Open fields, tractors, music, and the unmistakable energy of Punjab. With an incredible local crew behind us, we set out to capture exactly that the kind of visuals that don't need much dressing up, because the land and the culture do the storytelling on their own.

Punjab has a way of showing up on camera that's hard to manufacture on a set. The golden light over the fields, the rhythm of rural life, the sense of scale when a tractor rolls across an open horizon this was always going to be a location-driven shoot, which meant the location had to cooperate. It didn't, not entirely. But that's production for you.

The Recce: Scouting Under a Punjab Sun

Before a single frame was shot, the team spent days scouting Morinda and the surrounding villages, mapping out fields, access roads, and the best vantage points for the story we wanted to tell. This meant long hours out in the open, walking fields under a sun that gave no mercy. Scorching heat, dust, and the kind of humidity that tests even the most seasoned crew members.

It's easy to underestimate how physically demanding a recce can be. There's no crew comfort, no shade tents, no shot list to hide behind just walking the land, imagining camera angles, and figuring out logistics in real time. By the end of the scouting days, the team had a clear plan. What they didn't have was any idea the weather was about to flip entirely.

When the Weather Won't Cooperate

By shoot day, the skies had turned. What had been relentless heat during the recce gave way to heavy clouds and then the rain arrived, right in the middle of production.

Cameras got covered in a scramble, equipment was rushed under shelter, and the entire unit paused mid-scene. For a few tense hours, the shoot hung in the balance. Rain isn't just an inconvenience on a production like this it changes the light, softens the ground tractors need to move across, and can shut a shoot day down entirely if it doesn't let up.

Thankfully, the clouds passed. The crew regrouped, checked the gear, assessed the light, and got back to work chasing the remaining hours of the day to recover what had been lost.

Moving Pieces, Tight Timelines

Weather aside, coordinating this production was a challenge in its own right. Multiple Mahindra tractor models had to be sourced and brought in from neighbouring villages, each one needed for specific shots at specific times. That meant careful scheduling every tractor's arrival and departure timed precisely to avoid losing daylight, and every handoff between vehicles planned so the shoot never lost momentum.

Add to that the natural unpredictability of any production: shifting schedules, last-minute changes, and the occasional "talent is running late" moment that every producer knows all too well. Every hour on set demanded a quick decision. There was no time to overthink only to adapt, communicate, and keep the day moving forward.

This is the side of filmmaking that rarely makes it into the final cut: the logistics, the phone calls, the constant recalculating of what's possible in the time that's left. It's unglamorous, but it's the backbone of every successful shoot.

A Director's First Time in Punjab

One of the real highlights of this project was working alongside Sukh Sanghera, who flew in from Canada specifically for this shoot. With nearly 17 years of experience directing music videos around the world, Sukh brought a wealth of expertise and a fresh perspective to the set.

What made it even more special was that this was his first time shooting in Punjab the region he's spent much of his career representing through music and culture, but had never actually filmed in. There was something fitting about that: a director known globally for capturing Punjabi music and identity, finally standing in the fields that inspired so much of it. His energy and experience elevated the entire shoot, and the local crew's knowledge of the land and its rhythms gave him a canvas he clearly connected with.

Sleepless Nights and Muddy Fields

By the time the shoot wrapped, the toll was obvious. Sleepless nights spent prepping for the next day, muddy fields left behind by the rain, and a seemingly endless list of moving parts to track vehicles, talent, weather windows, equipment, light.

But through all of it, the team never stopped pushing forward. There's a particular kind of resilience that shows up on productions like this not the dramatic, cinematic kind, but the quiet, stubborn kind. The kind that shows up at 5 a.m. after three hours of sleep because the light is right and the tractors are ready and there's no other option but to make it work.

When everything seems to be working against you the weather, the schedule, the logistics that's exactly when production finds a way to make it happen anyway.

The Takeaway

Looking back, this project was never just about making a music video. It was about adapting on the fly, trusting a new team in a new place, and creating something memorable against all odds.

Shoots like this are a reminder of what this work actually is beneath the glossy final product: problem-solving under pressure, collaboration across cultures and continents, and a shared stubbornness to get the shot no matter what the day throws at you. Morinda gave us heat, rain, mud, and chaos and in return, it gave us something real.

That's the trade every time. And it's why, days later, this is still the shoot we can't stop thinking about.