No smoke without FIRE

Amarjot Kaur

The one-and-a-half-minute video of a dancer being shot during celebratory gunfire at a wedding in Bathinda, which went viral on WhatsApp and Facebook on Sunday evening, stands testimony to the unreasonably popular gun culture in Punjab. The trend, glorified in Punjabi films and songs, has assumed dangerous proportions.

A part of Jashan-e-Punjab Musical Group, based out of Sardulgarh, Mansa, 25-year-old dancer Kulwinder was shot in the head as she danced to Botal sharab diye on Saturday evening. Sadly, she died on the spot.

Kulwinder’s friend Lovepreet, 24, who is seen dancing right next to her in the video, escaped the bullet by a few inches. She rues, “This is not the first time a dancer was shot at a wedding. In Jabalpur, about three or four days ago, a similar incident claimed a friend’s life. I have lost four of my friends because of celebratory gunfire gone wrong.”

While stating that Kulwinder was two-month pregnant, she shares that even before the performance three or four men entered the green room and were asked to leave immediately. “If we sense any sort of hooliganism, we don’t perform. Some boys tried entering the room, but they were asked to leave by the organisers. However, when we went on stage, we saw many people firing gunshots in the air. I was appalled when Kulwinder fell on the floor. At first, I didn’t even know that she was shot. We even made an announcement on-stage asking people to keep their weapons aside. How many more people will be killed like this? Shouldn’t the government make stricter laws?” asks Lovepreet.

Maninder Singh Manga, the owner of Jashan-e-Punjab Musical Group, shares that incidents like these have claimed many lives and that the only solution that organisers and venue authorities came up with was to put up boards that read ‘No Firing Allowed’ — a rule that is often ignored by drunk guests. “Even at this wedding, people had double-barrel and 12-bore guns and even kattas; that’s how the baraat arrived, firing away to glory! We make announcements, but after all this I believe one should sign a ‘no arms allowed’ agreement with the client,” he says.

Price tag

Manga shares that most women dancers belong to economically weaker sections. “Every dancer has a manager. Sometimes a manager manages more than two dancers. Their prices depend on how pretty or how popular they are. You can hire a dancer at Rs 5,000 and the price can go up to Rs 50,000. We usually provide dancers to people according to their requirements,” he shares.

Glorifying guns

Punjabi singers enjoy a huge fan-following, especially in the interiors of Punjab, and their songs heavily influence the youth. Commercially popular singers and superstars like Dilpreet Dhillion, Babbu Mann, Diljit Dosanjh, Navraj Hans, and Gippy Grewal have sung songs that glorify guns, violence, and objectify women. Satwant Singh of Arora Wedding and Event Management, Ludhiana, who was earlier a DJ, says, “When I was a DJ, I was taken at gun-point and a man asked me to play the song Jatt Fire Karda by Diljit Dosanjh. The youth in Punjab tries to imitate these singers and look up to them. I have so many friends who have experienced the same problem.”

Foreign value

Neha from Artist on Call, a company that provides Russian Belly dancers to perform at the wedding ceremonies, maintains that a company should have strict rules for security and the client must stand responsible for any mishap. “We take precautions, but more than that we make sure that there is enough security for dancers. If a client cannot provide security, we don’t provide them with our services,” she shares.

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