We live in a society where artists face hatred and sometimes death threats, which is a sad truth. While the hostility appears to be directed at the artist's work, it quickly escalates into hatred toward the artist as a whole. The assassination of Punjabi artist and politician Sidhu Moosewala recently brought this to light. It sparked an important discussion about the number of times Punjabi singers, in particular, have gotten death threats and hate calls. So, while searching for the same, it has been noted that not only Sidhu but many artists have been threatened by the calls and sometimes attacked by assailants.
Here’s The List Of Seven Punjabi Singers Who Have Opened Up About This Abuse:
Karan Aujla
Geetan di machine aka Karan Aujla, was threatened earlier this year by a gangster group - Harry Chatha group. Not only were death threats issued on social media against him, but gunshots were also fired at his friend’s house in Surrey, Canada.
The message read, "Karan Aujla... How long will you provide damage to your friends?" The threat hinted at his notorious songs. "We know where your sister lives, and the one who stays by your side, her boutique. But we don’t want to harm them. We’ve done this to you in Canada. We are waiting for your Europe tour and in India our brother Harry Chatha is waiting for you. How much time will be left to change the address, if not today, then tomorrow will come in handy".
Badshah
Hatred was not something rapper Badshah may have expected as he expressed sympathy for KK's tragic death. However, one troll took it upon themselves to write the rapper a particularly hateful message. For the message, Badshah captioned, "Just to give you an idea what kind of abuse we face on a daily basis," on his Instagram stories.
Mankirt Aulakh
According to reports, Sidhu Moosewala's killers are threatening singer Mankirt Aulakh, who is known for his song Gangland. After getting threats from the Davinder Bambiha gang, Aulakh stepped up for his protection in April. Following Moose Wala's death, the gang allegedly issued threats on Facebook. They claimed in the post that Aulakh was linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which was responsible for Moosewala's death.
Balkar Sidhu
Extortion calls and threats were also made to singer-politician Balkar Sidhu. It all started after his Facebook account was hacked. He was threatened that if he didn't pay the caller Rs 8400, an obscene video would be posted on his Facebook to smear his reputation. Sidhu transferred the funds to someone in need of quick cash. From here, things only get worse. The money demand was then in the lakhs. That's when he went to the cops and told them about the situation.
The artist told the portals that an unidentified caller started making calls at his office in Mohali on April 20 and demanded Rs 8,400. Later, he started getting calls on his mobile phone. The caller threatened to put obscene videos on his Facebook page to tarnish his image if he didn't pay him the money. When the amount was transferred into the account given by the caller, he started demanding Rs 1 lakh and continued threatening him with dire consequences and social blackmailing. The caller subsequently hacked his Facebook account.
Rai Jujhar
Rai Jujhar, a singer from Jalandhar, has received death threats. He revealed in a video on social media that he received a call from an unknown person threatening to harm him because of his offensive music. He then filed a police report with the city of Kharar.
AP Dhillon
Following the death of Moosewala, the Brown Munde singer and rapper passionately addressed the darker side of being a Punjabi artist on his Instagram stories. He talked about how artists deal with "constant judgement, hate-filled comments, threats, and negative energy" on a regular basis.
His story reads, “Most people will never know the extent of what you have to deal with as a Punjabi artist behind the scenes on a daily basis. With constant judgement, hate-filled comments, threats, and negative energy directed towards people like us, who are just doing what we love.” In his tribute to Sidhu Moosewala, the ‘Insane’ star AP Dhillon, also said, “I always admired how Sidhu was able to rise above it all. He made it look easy and stayed true to himself. Today I am praying for his family and our community. We need to do better.”
Parmish Verma
Parmish Verma, a Punjabi musician best known for the song Gaal Ni Kadni, was assaulted by a criminal in Mohali. Dilpreet Singh Dhahan, a thug who had announced his plan in a Facebook post, shot him and his friend Kulwant Singh Chahal. He was brought to Fortis Hospital with a bullet wound to his leg.
Dhahan then wrote on Facebook that Verma was lucky to have escaped with his life. "I, Dilpreet Singh Dhahan, want to tell everyone that I’m behind the shooting of Parmish Verma." Police had then provided security to Verma.
Parmish Verma had written on Facebook, "There is something I wanted to clear the air about. The incident that took place was purely a threat for extortion. I have no enmity with anyone. I have never been involved directly or indirectly with the people. I am falsely being associated with by certain media and social media channels." Three people were later detained in connection with the crime.
Gippy Grewal
Extortion threats were made through video calls to actor-singer Gippy Grewal by the same gangster, Dilpreet Dhahan, who had attacked Parmish Verma. The Parmish Verma episode will be repeated with him, he was warned. Grewal reported the incident to the police, who then filed a criminal complaint against the mobster. This occurred as Gippy Grewal was promoting his upcoming film, Carry On Jatta 2.
Hence, it has been made clear that being a star is not that easy. One has to go through many obstacles and problems. Punjabi singers and their feuds with gangster groups have always been in the headlines. And we hope this culture will end soon and the lives of these entertainers will be easy forever!