Holi kab hai? Fans of Bhojpuri singer-songwriter Guddu Rangila say if you hear a new song from him, then know that Holi has arrived. So what’s the latest from Guddu Rangila? Songs that take cue from coronavirus and National Register of Citizens, or NRC.
But no, this Bhojpuri singer isn’t spreading awareness about important issues. He is sexualising them. ‘Humra lehenga mein corona virus ghusal ba’; ‘Apna lehenga mein NRC laagu hokhey na dem’.
That’s the world of Bhojpuri music for you. Even a public health emergency is an excuse to titillate the audience.
Also read: Move over Mumbai, Delhi is the new centre of the burgeoning Bhojpuri music industry
Holi ‘Samrat’
Guddu Rangila is quite a sensation in Bihar and East Uttar Pradesh. His sexualised songs, most of them constructed around Holi and released during the festive season, are something of a cultural trend. He has earned the moniker of being ‘Holi Samrat’ — the emperor who fetishes his ‘bhauji (sister-in-law’s)’ lehenga. No talk or discussion on the decline of Bhojpuri music industry is complete without mentioning his name.
His YouTube channel, Sanjivani, which has close to two lakh subscribers, has uploaded more than a dozen songs since mid-January. The lyrics and videos of mostly all these songs are crass and vulgar. They are so cringe-worthy that even Dhinchak Pooja (‘Selfie maine le li aaj’ or ‘’Dilon ka shooter hai mera scooter’) starts to look better. But while Pooja’s songs are couple of inane lines on repeat, Guddu Rangila’s songs are disturbing.
Also read: In the Bhojpuri music world, Modi has become ‘balma chowkidar’ this election season
Obsessed with rape
In one of his latest songs, he talks about having sex with his sister-in-law who is three months pregnant. The deeper you go into the dark world of Guddu Rangila, the more he reveals a mindset obsessed with rape. In January 2013, about a month or so after the gruesome Delhi bus gang rape and murder, Guddu Rangila came up with a song titled ‘Balatkar hota hai rajau’ means someone is being raped. In the beginning of the song, he demands death penalty for the rapists and then goes on romanticising the rape of a sister-in-law because her brother-in-law got aroused by the news of Delhi gang rape.
Few months later, around Holi, a man in Bihar was killed for protesting against the lewd songs of Rangila. Some of his other outrageous Holi songs are titled as ‘Holi mein izzat nahi bachat ho’, ‘Mot pichkari majanua ke’.
Also read: AAP members celebrate Delhi victory with Manoj Tiwari’s ‘Rinkiya ke papa’
Destroying a culture
Bhojpuri songs are known for taking a stand on social issues. Rangila, 44, uses it differently. He is a nationalist and an ‘anti-national’ at the same time. He rejects NRC but finds an FIR filed against him for his song on the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB). He ignored all ‘musical rivalry’ with fellow Bhojpuri singer and BJP MP Manoj Tiwari and created a song asking people to support him during the Lok Sabha election.
Many Bhojpuri-speaking people I talked to have nothing but disgust for Guddu Rangila, who they believe has single handedly destroyed the language and culture of 15 crore people of Bihar and UP. While he does have a huge fan following, his YouTube videos are replete with comments criticising him for writing such songs that could sexualise almost everything.
He has over sexualised simple terms as Hau (that), Daalna (to put something), Katora (bowl) etc. The list is endless and so is the Guddu Rangila’s obsession with lehengas and breasts. Many now fear that soon NRC and coronavirus will enter into jokes that will be in poor taste.
It’s no wonder that Bhojpuri, despite being a lovely language and Boli, has been mocked over the years. And history will note how a singer with a penchant for rape was at the forefront when that language was being destroyed.
It’s very sad to hear such thing about my mother tongue. Bhojpuri boli me mithaas baa apnepan ka.
YA WE AGREE THAT SOME OF BHOJPURI SINGER NOT SINGING GOOD SONG BHUT SOME SUNG NOW GOPOD AWESOME BHOJPURI SONGS
THIS IS BHOJPURISONGSLYRICS.COM WEBSITE AND I LOVED IT
Resistance, and Renaissance sometimes is active rather than passive. Complaining about the excesses of Guddu, IMHO, is an intellectually lazy way of sympathising with the loss of Bhojpuri culture that borders on ethnocide due to the obvious role of state and dominant parties in it.
A more creative response would be to wear Bhojpuri on the sleeve and introduce culturally and civically relevant theme to the corpus of Bhojpuri literature and popular culture. This is more important if we are to remain committed to the idea of saving a culture. Also as we progress and educate the Bhojpuri people, who may be following this song for the lack of better content, we will start seeing results. Mere complaining won’t do.
हमरा हाऊ चाही