When Blue Eyes turn red…

Jasmine Singh

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While the rumours of Yo Yo Honey Singh-missing- in-action for a while do the rounds, a student from St Stephen’s College, Rene Verma, as part Delhi poetry slam, throws an open letter to the singer, which is making rounds on social networking sites and Youtube.

Rene has blasted Honey Singh in his style—through rap, slamming the way he has objectified women in his songs. She raps…“I am not an afterthought, I am not an overpriced sweater in Zara, I’m not an ambraan di queen or a kudi namkeen... I am not blue eyes, hypnotise. Mein choti dress mein bomb nahin lagti, yaar....I am not a woofer and you sure as hell ain’t my amplifier, what are you, a transformer? And dear Honey Singh, if you feed my dog a nashe-wali biskoot, I will cut you up.”

Well, if all the girls are smiling here, they sure deserve to. But if you delve more into the scenario, Honey Singh is the not the solo singer who makes women look like an object, our Punjabi industry is filled with songs which showcase women either as back-stabbers, scheming and plotting for money or simply crazy about brands and are ready to trade it for love.

The sad part is that the youngsters in Punjab have lapped up these numbers without sparing them much thought. What needs looked at is whether songs objectifying women should be treated as rocking numbers. Here is what we get….

No end to it…

Long time back, the real Baaz of Punjabi music industry, Babbu Mann had portrayed how a girl ditched him (in the video of the track Mitra Di Chattri) to get married to a boy who stays abroad. Today, we have songs like Jagauar by Muzical Doctorz, Sukhe feat Bohemia where they sing Kudi Khendi Baby Phela Jaguar Lai Lao…Fer Jina Marji Pyar Lai Layo…Pyar Lai Layo… or for that matter, Rent Da Flat by Sharna where the singer compares the women to a flat on rent!

Nishawn Bhullar, who has maintained his profile by always opting to sing something meaningful, says, “I am vehemently against the portryal of women as an object. I can zero in on so many tracks from our industry where women are personified as cheaters or lusting for money. Actually, I doubt if the singers go into depth to understand what they are singing, they just go with the popular trend, even if it is comparing women to a motorbike, or showing her as a fashionable babe who is always into brands or the most common situation, where she is two-timing.”

A shot at…

If there are singers singing romantic and rustic numbers, there are those who just have to portray girls as villains, knowingly or unknowingly. Ammy Virk’s new song Taara, which indeed is beautiful has a video where his lover poisons him, in another Maninder Buttar’s track, Yaari depicts his lover walking in with another man, when she is still dating him. A little ahead Punjabi singer Sippy Gill, who is known for his rustic tracks croons, Oye Red Leaf Vekh Ke Tu White Flag Utte Char Gayi in his recent track Red Leaf.

Music director Gurmeet Singh touches all the aspects of this trend. “If you see it objectively, each of one, probably, have experienced heart breaks, have been ditched, and it is okay to express this feeling in a song with the help of the word bewafa.

However, comparing a woman to any object, calling her names is not acceptable. Yet again, what we need to be worried about is why these tracks are still popular, actually that should be the matter of concern.”

Creative liberty is understandable but comparing women to objects, zeroing on her character is something which Punjabi music industry can definitely do without. Don’t we have enough jattism, dunali, arrogance, and desi romance….that we can foot tap on?

jasmine@tribunemail.com