Is Bhagat Singh The Only Punjabi Martyr Or Have We Forgotten The Others?
(Diljit Dosanjh Announces That He Wouldn't Do Roles Without His Turban!)
Yes we have had an entire collection of party songs, romantic songs and heart break ones as well but the meaningful songs have taken a back seat.
Amidst this crowd of over glamourised Punjabi music did we miss something?
Yes..We did.
A very important aspect of any music industry is it's patriotism and the feel that connects people to their motherland. Punjab was undoubtedly the state which was most effected by partition and throughout that phase many brave soldiers got martyred but today we aren’t even remembering them!
Did we forget these who lost their life??
No. We do remember Bhagat Singh and he still rules many charts and hearts. Diljit’s track Main Fan Bhagat Singh Da or Honey’s 'Tribute to Bhagat Singh' and many others simply raise a question that was Bhagat Singh the only martyr from the soil of Punjab or there were others as well whom we have forgotten?
Let's read what the known faces from our very own Punjabi industry have to say regarding this:
When we asked the famous music producer Pav Dharia about it, he expressed, “The kind of music that is popular is directly dependent on what the audience thinks is good or appeals to their emotions. Punjab has gone from being a state of highly moral and mostly educated individuals to a deeply corrupted, mostly uneducated and unemployed population. The ideology of Bhagat Singh is not even understood..forget about following him. Take this further and you have Guru Nanak who started a religion based on logic and reasoning - yet the Sikh religion is now all about showing off and building Gurudwaras in places we should be building schools. Even in schools the idea of education is copying paragraphs from a text book onto a notebook - which idiot thinks this is education? We have lost the very foundation of what made us great. We no longer respect the land of Punjab in the way it deserves respect, and without respect you can't be patriotic. The reason - songs with guns and cars are popular is because that's what the youth thinks is cool, through no fault of their own but through the fault of a handful of powerful individuals. Patriotism dies when you don't know what you're fighting for."
“The youth relates to Bhagat Singh and as singers we sing songs about him because his contribution was vital. Yes! I would agree that there were many other freedom fighters about whom we need to tell the world. I would personally want to make a song on Kartar Singh Sarabha. The situation of Punjabi music industry is going from bad to worse. The audience wants peppy heavy dhol beats on which they can dance not realizing what lyrics are being used and makers just want to make money without realizing what they are doing to the image of Punjab,” expresses Harbhajan Maan on the issue of dearth of patriotic songs in Punjab.
Beat Minister, another famous Punjabi music producer says, “Artists are becoming professional and very commercial. Patriotic songs aren’t lucrative enough in terms of returns and hence artists avoid singing them.”
Dr. Zeus has his strong opinion about the whole matter. He expressed that it is very sad that these days there are very few patriotic songs being made. One major reason is that the audience response to these songs is usually low so very few producers are keen to invest in such songs. However, there are still some artistes who occasionally try to present patriotism in their songs but the result is same.
Bhagat Singh is one legendary freedom fighter in India's history and for Punjabis it is a matter of pride that Bhagat Singh was a Punjabi and fought for independence till his last breath.
(A Film That Might Question Your Belief In Shaheed Bhagat Singh!)
"So what if most songs are on Bhagat Singh? Infact Bhagat Singh's progressive ideologies were always meant to inspire youth and may be that is the reason songs about Bhagat Singh are being made to create curiosity among the youth. I feel that the youth can really connect to his ideology. I also agree that there were many other heroes who sacrificed their lives like Sardar Udham Singh. Punjabi cinema, in different formats, is trying to make the common people aware of such heroes of our country. But I think there is still a lot of work to be done to accredit many unsung heroes of our soil. This will require a lot of research and choice of right platform to tell the stories of these inspiring men and women.."
We keep hearing songs of different genres coming each day but then we miss the praise of our martyrs and lets sing songs of praises for them all an not just one!
