The power of manifestation, appropriate branding, being in the right place at the right time, sheer talent, oodles of hard work — success has many fathers. Decoding the success code is as multilayered and complex as the endearing personalities who capture the public imagination.
When Diljit Dosanjh danced his way to the Jimmy Kimmel show, the natural destination of the who’s who of the celeb world, it was a historic moment for Punjabi music. It’s not just Diljit who is setting off an unprecedented hype and fan frenzy. Karan Aujla and AP Dhillon have joined the bandwagon of sold-out concerts across India. ‘Unstoppable’, ‘livewire’, ‘heartthrobs’ — adjectives fall short in describing their journey to success.
In 2023, Diljit became the first Punjabi singer to be part of the Coachella Festival in the US, where artistes of many musical genres perform. AP Dhillon was the first Punjabi language artiste to perform at the 2023 Juno Awards in Edmonton, Canada. Karan Aujla’s concert at Rogers Arena (Vancouver) was the highest selling Punjabi show at the venue. If Kimmel introduces Diljit as the “biggest Punjabi artiste on the planet”, hip-hop legend Nas calls ‘Brown Munde’ singer Dhillon the “newest, greatest artiste in the… world”.
Millions of views and downloads have been a given in the Punjabi musical galaxy for long now. But to be trending on the UK Asian Music charts, topping the Billboard charts, Apple Music and more, clearly this is a different league altogether where Diljit no doubt stands way above others. At the O2 music arena in London, he was sold out for three nights. A resale portal put the price of his show tickets during his Dil-Luminati tour in lakhs.
Diljit is ready to mock his not-so Anglicised upbringing while Aulja and Dhillon have foreign accents. All three, however, are rooted in terra firma. They talk brands but more than brands, they wear their hearts on their sleeves.
In 2020, when AP Dhillon came out with ‘Brown Munde’, the words ‘Desi Jehe Geet Aa Trap Jehi Beat Aa’ struck an instant chord with the Punjabi diaspora. But what explains the song’s success on the world stage where the listeners don’t quite understand the lyrics? The global sound Dhillon along with Gurinder Gill and Shinda Kahlon have managed to roll out is possibly the answer. Atul Sharma, noted Punjabi music director who gave us Surjit Bindrakhiya’s ‘Duppata Tera Sat Rang Da’, says, “They have mastered the techniques available worldwide. International level of recording, video presentation and more, they don’t cut any corners. And when you marry technique with the inimitable Punjabi swing, a surefire formula for a hit is ready.”
Yet, they hardly seem to be adhering to any pattern, except maybe coming across as earnest Punjabis. What you see is what you get. After all, humility and superstardom is a deadly combination which endears and awes fans. That they come from humble beginnings makes them all too relatable. Most youngsters can seek inspiration in their humungous success. Celebrated director Imtiaz Ali, whose film ‘Amar Singh Chamkila’ once again established Diljit as an actor to reckon with, goes one step further. He defines Diljit’s relatability so, “There is a simplicity and purity in Diljit and when people see him performing, they are reminded of what is good in them.”
Interestingly, while these megastars are candid, they instinctively seem to know how much to reveal and what to conceal. Diljit might be in an “all-reveal” mode right now, yet is tightlipped about his wife. When rumour mills told us that Dhillon was dating ‘October’ actor Banita Sandhu, he neither made the relationship too obvious, nor the now-rumoured breakup public. Aujla may not have kept mum about his girlfriend-turned-wife, yet has limited the exposure. Thus, though they come across as everyday ‘saade pind de munde’, the mystique remains.
Ali talks of another disarming quality in Diljit: “While at one level Diljit is able to engage with a world audience, at another he is very comfortable with his own self. He knows how to connect with the outer world as well as inner.” Lately, fans following Diljit’s graph believe his entire aura has changed in recent years. On stage, he might scream Punjabi “aa gaye veh”, betraying a regional bias, but associates share he chants ‘Wahe Guru’ and ‘Om Namo Shivay’ and cuts the right picture of a secular Indian that India loves so much. Why, today, even spiritual gurus are citing his power to manifest stardom.
Whether what they are sharing is part of the brand strategy or not, when they — especially Diljit — speak, it seems like the gospel truth. Noted filmmaker Anees Bazmee, who has cast Diljit in the sequel of the superhit ‘No Entry’, finds him “a pure soul with no traces of nautanki or dramebaazi”. As the actor-singer sang for ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’, Bazmee vouches for his “buland aawaz” and extraordinary talent. Diljit himself says he isn’t the best singer around, but his soulful voice and versatility need no endorsement.
Now the chicken and egg query — is Bollywood adding to their cult status, or are they encashing upon its pan-India reach? Take Aujla’s ‘Tauba Tauba’ song of ‘Bad Newz’, which peaked at number one on Billboard India, and UK Asian charts and entered the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 at the 25th position in July 2024. Many reasons, including Vicky Kaushal’s hook step choreography, are being attributed to the humungous success of the song. The truth is when Aujla wrote, sang and composed ‘Tauba Tauba’, he was already ‘the Karan Aujla’ and not any newbie. So when he enjoys the spotlight in the post-credit scenes with Vicky, the makers are not creating a space for him but capitalising on his fandom. Diljit may not have been as big a phenomenon when he made his Bollywood debut in 2016 with ‘Udta Punjab’, but he was already the superstar of Punjabi music and cinema. And today, if Ali calls Diljit a “national pride”, Sharma feels, “These reigning stars of Punjab are way bigger than Bollywood, which is facing a crisis of its own.”
Many trade pundits reason that since cinema is not working in theatres, Punjabi music has become another means of entertainment. While they incorporate world influences from house to trap to hip hop to R&B, their music has a stamp of its own. What’s more, none of them are one-song wonders. Around for 22 years, Diljit’s hits ‘G.O.A.T’,’ Proper Patola’, ‘Raat Di Gedi’, ‘Born to Shine’ are far too many to be listed. Aujla is 27 and Dhillon 31; their age might belie us in assuming they are overnight wonders. But Aujla has time and again shared in chat shows how he began writing when he was in school as a cathartic tool to deal with his parents’ loss at a very young age. Today, he has 52 singles as the lead artist to his credit. Dhillon’s journey from the garage to the world stage is well documented in docuseries ‘AP Dhillon: First of a Kind’.
Well-versed with contemporary sensibilities, the fact that they are based out of India helps them understand how to tap into the collective consciousness of the young, which is increasingly moving towards a common ground. With new demographics taking over, Sharma observes, “The world today has similar tastes.” International collaborations like Diljit’s with Colombian singer Camilo for the song ‘Palpita’ and US rapper Saweetie for the song ‘Khutti’ further secure their sway on audiences across borders and cultures. When Ed Sheeran sings parts of Diljit’s song ‘Lover’ in Mumbai and a mashup of ‘The Shape of You’ and Diljit’s ‘Naina’ with him in Birmingham, fans in both continents go berserk. On the ever-rising ascent of Punjabi music, five years ago, Tej Gobind Singh of White Hill Studios said, “Punjabi music is not a bubble that will burst.”
Today, when Diljit sings ‘Main Hoon Punjab’, which Irshad Kamil wrote for the movie ‘Chamkila’, Punjabi music has become the de facto emblem of Punjab and these three its unicorns.
#SING #KING
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