Beyond celebrating deviant behaviour in bristly verbal jibes, several Punjabi songs promote hypermasculinity | Lifestyle News, The Indian Express

Beyond celebrating deviant behaviour in bristly verbal jibes, several Punjabi songs promote hypermasculinity | Lifestyle News, The Indian Express

Written by Saurabh Kapoor |Updated: October 14, 2019 6:13:51 pm

Beyond celebrating deviant behaviour in bristly verbal jibes, several Punjabi songs promote hypermasculinity

Most songs also subject women to subordinate roles. In this script of hypermasculintiy, the men are Byronic tailchasers and the only roles for women are either smitten accomplices or gun-totting "bro-chicks".

On September 11, an unruly gender-role script almost set off a public brawl between two Punjabi singers — Elly Mangat and Rami Randhawa — on the streets of Mohali.

Reejan naal khadkaune aan ni, peg, daang te vairi nu (I relish clinking glasses, clacking my wooden staff and belting my rivals). Regular ‘man stuff’ from a recent Punjabi hit, German Gun, that has 114K YouTube likes and counting. Guns, flashy cars and drooling women is how “real men” in countless Punjabi songs roll. And when they are challenged, they respond.