Punjabi actor and a singer, Diljit Dosanjh, responded to calls by authorities to not promote alcohol in his songs by daring the governments to implement bans on its consumption. While performing in Ahmedabad last night, he also said that because Gujarat is a dry state, he would not sing songs on alcohol in the city.
Before his concert in Hyderabad, the Telangana government asked Dosanjh to refrain from using his songs to advocate violence, drugs, and alcohol. After making changes to his songs “Lemonade” and “5 Taara,” the artist, who is currently on the Dil-Luminati India Tour, demanded that the states ban alcohol if such music was ‘inappropriate’ for the society.
Dosanjh addressed the Ahmedabad audience last evening, referring to the Telangana government, “There’s good news. I did not get any notice today, even today I won’t sing any song about alcohol. It’s because Gujarat is a dry state”.
He stated he would be a fan of the Gujarat government if it had indeed imposed a ban on liquor, post getting mixed reactions from the fans on whether liquor is banned in Gujarat.
You close liquor shops across the country, I will stop singing songs about alcohol, you can’t fool the youth,” he dared the state governments critical of his music, pointing out that every shop was shut during the pandemic except the liquor stores.
He stated that such notices cannot scare him and that musicians may easily alter song lyrics. The artist even went so far as to advocate for a movement to ban alcohol while speaking to the audience.
According to Mr. Dosanjh, he has performed dozens of devotional songs, but “Patiala Peg” is the only one being discussed. Additionally, he cited the dozens of songs about alcohol in Bollywood that promote those businesses. “Bollywood has thousands of songs. I have only a few. Even today I won’t sing those. It’s very easy for me to tweak the song. I don’t even drink alcohol. Bollywood stars advertise alcohol, Diljit Dosanjh doesn’t,” he stated.