The bhangra boys

AP Dhillon and his tribe are giving Punjabi music a global appeal by incorporating diverse genres like hip-hop, afrobeats and dancehall, while remaining true to themselves

- REYA MEHROTRA

Everyone knows that it is almost impossible to release a Hindi film without a Punjabi song in it. But now, there is a parallel paradigm shift in the way theth (the pure form of the language) Punjabi songs by artists from the Pind, or the rural part of the state, are being consumed globally. At the forefront of this is Amritpal Singh Dhillon, aka AP Dhillon, who hails from Gurdaspur and is settled in Canada.

His song 'Brown Munde' (2020), which made him a global Punjabi sensation, gives an idea of how people of colour struggle to thrive away from their homeland. He sings:

In our Lamborghini trucks, we travel directly to Hollywood

Songs of Indian boys are heard by the whole of Bollywood

Our music has made waves, we do not want any fame

We know how to sing, and also know how to write

Dhillon represents the Canadian dream-a boy from a small Punjabi village with big dreams goes to Canada and becomes a music sensation. "Millions of us have gone to Canada, America, UK, Australia, everywhere.... And it is just everybody's story. You start from nothing and then you make something out of it," says Shinda Kahlon, Indo-Canadian rapper, singer, and writer of 'Brown Munde. The song became the anthem of the 'brown mundes' living abroad. There has been no looking back since.

In AP Dhillon: First of a Kind, a recently released four-part docuseries on Amazon Prime Video, Dhillon and his team-Kahlon, Gurinder Gill, Kevin Buttar, Herman Atwal and Gminxr-retrace the singer's journey from Gurdaspur to performing to a full crowd at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.