63jattlikethat· reportage
AUGUST 2019an interview, the change of name was “thoda cool
rakhne karne ke liye”—to keep it a little cool. In the
album’s title song, which also got its own music
video, a young Dosanjh looks largely out of place,
jiving alongside professional dancers. The album
failed to make any impact.
But in the years that followed, Dosanjh stead-
ily grew in popularity with his music featuring
themes of love and Sikh pride. Dosanjh belongs
to the Jatt Sikh community, a dominant, agrarian
Sikh caste that comprises roughly sixty percent
of all Sikhs. The Sikh pride in Punjabi popular
culture often amounts to Jatt pride, with films
and songs repeating the traits of a good Jatt—some
recurrent ones include a generally happy disposi-
tion, pride in one’s community, an ability to con-
sume large quantities of alcohol, being unafraid to
speak one’s mind and being quick to confrontation
and sometimes even violence.
In 2009, Dosanjh began collaborating with the
music producer and rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh,
the most prominent among the musicians infusing
elements of hip hop into Punjabi music. The col-
laboration had an immense impact on Dosanjh’s
aesthetic and image.
His album that year, The Next Level, was a
marked departure from his previous work. Dos-
anjh appeared alongside Singh as a brash, cocky
gangster in the video for the song “Panga.” Dosan-
jh was seen toting guns, and the lyrics said, “aasi
rehne de aa rab kolo darr ke, gun rakhi di ae golian
naal parr ke”—we are god-fearing men, but we
keep our guns loaded. The glorification of drugs,
sex and violence became an intermittent feature of
his songs. Dosanjh’s popularity soared, especially
among the young. The music videos also proved
that Dosanjh could not only sing, but also act.
Two years later, Dosanjh made his film debut in
the director Guddu Dhanoa’s action film The Lion
of Punjab. Though the film, produced by the Nor-
wegian company Tanda Films, collected a poor
R2.5 crore at the box office, Dosanjh’s song “Lak
28 Kudi Da”—The girl’s waist size is 28—produced
again with Honey Singh, became the first song
by a non-Bollywood singer to top the BBC’s Asian
Download Chart, which cumulates data from
various downloading websites. Dosanjh’s acting,
though passable, borrowed from his gangster im-
age, built in partnership with Honey Singh. In the
title song of the film, which he did not sing, he is
seen dancing with a gun resting on his shoulder
with what can be read as the boldness of the Pun-
jabi Jatt.
With gun culture on the rise in Punjab, Dosanjh
has often been questioned for contributing to it.
In March 2018, in an interview with Indianews
Punjab, Dosanjh uncharacteristically lost his cool
after the interviewer pointed how the poster for a
film he was headlining had a weapon in it. Dosan-
jh responded, “Ee hathyar na honge taan apne haq
kinna milange?”—how would we get our rights if
we were not armed? This discourse of “haq” here
is not about a noble political goal, but refers to the
feudal realities of Punjab. Since land continues
to be the most important asset, land feuds are
common among the Jatt Sikh community. It is not
uncommon to kill rivals while claiming one’s land.
Dosanjh’s music video for the song “Jatt Fire Kar-
da”—The Jatt opens fire—approvingly dramatises
a revenge killing of a land usurper. Not just Dosan-
jh, several other musicians appear wielding guns
in their videos and glorifying similar violence.
When Anupama Chopra brought up his musical
output, however, Dosanjh tried to distance himself
from it. “This is my profession so I have to make
these songs to make money,” he said. “In a few
years, maybe even I wouldn’t want to hear theseprevious spread:
Diljit Dosanjh has
emerged as the
first sardar to have
carved a space for
himself in films on
the national stage,
without having to
give up his Sikh
identity.this spread:
Dosanjh’s
collaboration
with Yo Yo Honey
Singh had an
immense impact
on his aesthetic
and image. While
he became more
popular, he was
also criticised for
glorifying violence
and for the songs’
sexist content.