In Haryana, provocative pop picks guns and goons

Mukesh Jaji describes himself on social media as a “writer, storyteller, dream weaver”. He sits on a charpoy leaning against a wall in his farmhouse and music studio on the outskirts of Sonipat, about 50 km north of India’s capital Delhi. The bespectacled 32-year-old songwriter, who writes Haryanvi songs, is surrounded by green fields of prosperity.

Confined to a wheelchair for a decade after a road accident, he talks about the rapid growth of Haryana’s music industry in the last decade. “Pehle Haryana mein shadiyon mein dus gane Punjabi to ek Haryanvi bajta tha. Ab ulta ho gaya hai! Ab dus Haryanvi to ek Punjabi bajta hai, (Earlier in Haryana, 10 Punjabi songs were played for every Haryanvi song at weddings. Now the situation is opposite! Now 10 Haryanvi songs are played for every Punjabi song),” says the song.

Five years ago, amid the pandemic, two Haryanvi chartbusters, ’52 Gaj Ka Daman’ (15 meter skirt) and ‘Chatak Matak’ (smart woman), were released. Both the songs sung by Renuka Panwar have been viewed more than 1 billion times on YouTube till date. Mukesh, who wrote ’52 Gaj…’, says there is a shift in the regional music landscape of the state.

Also read | From mofussil towns to the World Cup stadium: witnessing the quiet rise of H-pop or Hindutva pop

The music video featured Haryanvi actor and social media influencer Pranjal Dahiya, while ‘Chatak…’ featured actress and artist Sapna Choudhary. Both have over 5 million followers on Instagram, while Mukesh has written around 120 songs, 40 of which have crossed 1 million streams.

Both music videos feature women wearing traditional shin-length gathered skirts and shirts, with dupattas covering their heads. Now major music players like Saregama India Limited, T-Series and Sony Music produce and distribute Haryanvi tracks on streaming platforms like JioSaavn, Spotify, Gaana and Apple Music.

Pop music and money

This boom has led to local musicians earning 10 to 100 times more than they did 5-10 years ago. Mukesh himself charges up to ₹10 lakh for writing a song. “Earlier, artists from Punjab used to belittle artists from Haryana. Now, they are keen on collaborations,” he says, using social media buzz for collaborations.

Kuldeep Rathee is a music video director. | Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Kuldeep Rathee, who has directed songs featuring muscular men like the 2019 hit ‘Rx 100’, reveals that song shooting budgets have increased from ₹20,000 to ₹20 lakh.

“We used to shoot in one location with simple cameras. The actors brought their own costumes. Now we’re going big: multiple locations, 2-3 days of shoots, Bollywood-level cameras, costume designers and choreographers with rents of up to Rs 35,000 a day. It’s a full production,” he explains. “The cash flow is attracting the best talent. Skilled professionals are joining Haryanvi music; the industry is flourishing,” says Rathee.

Musicians also wear Haryana on the arm. Shiva Choudhary, for example, glorifies its agrarian and rude culture by singing ‘Belonging to Haryana’: “We belong to Haryana and we are Jats. We believe only in the rule of khaps (community leaders) and we are not afraid of anyone. We are in this world only for fun. We are not afraid of police stations and police stations. We drink freely and do not measure pegs,” he sings. His songs are featured on VYRL Haryanvi, which contains playlists of artists singing in this language.

With this generational change, guns, gangs and hooliganism became part of the songs. One of the most popular Haryanvi singers, Masoom Sharma’s ten songs including ‘Chambal Ke Daku’, ‘Tuition Badmaashi Ka’ and ‘Jailer’ have collectively clocked over 100 million views. Dhanda Nyoliwala’s song “Illegal” garnered over 2.2 million views within a few days of its release in 2024. Despite the success of the genre, the glorification of violence in the music has led to criticism.

The story and lyrics of some tracks weakly represent the police and judiciary, while portraying the larger-than-life main protagonists as stronger than law enforcement. ‘Tuition Badmashi Kaa’, for example, depicts a female police officer being shot by the wrestler-turned-criminal hero. Whenever she and her power try to capture the male lead, she tricks him and escapes.

The video for another controversial song, ‘Court Mein Goli’, released in 2022, shows a dramatic scene in which the protagonist shoots a witness in the courtroom in the presence of the police and the judge hiding behind the bench. In 2023, a public interest lawsuit was filed in the Gujarat High Court alleging that the song “targeted the integrity of the justice system” and called for the song to be removed from YouTube.

Over the years, there have been several shooting incidents in court complexes including Bhiwani, Ambala, Hisar and Gurugram. This has raised concerns about the impact of songs that ostensibly glorify violence and gun culture.

In 2019, an order passed by the Punjab and Haryana Court in response to five writ petitions had stated: “The court may also take judicial notice of the recent increase in the glorification of liquor, wine, drugs and violence in songs in the States of Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. These songs affect children of impressionable age.”

In a 30-page order, the court directed the Director Generals of Police in the two States and UTs to “ensure that no songs glorifying liquor, wine, drugs and violence are played, even during live shows”.

murder at wedding

Panditrao Dharennavar, 51, a professor of sociology at Chandigarh government college, approached the court against songs encouraging violence after a 23-year-old female dancer was killed at a wedding in Punjab’s Bhatinda in December 2016.

Dharennavar, originally from Karnataka, was posted in Chandigarh after being appointed through the UPSC examination more than two decades ago. Gradually he became interested in the local language, literature and culture.

“I was very saddened by this incident. As a teacher, I thought this could not be true Punjabi culture: a woman dancing at a wedding at night and being shot by an excited guest while Diljit Dosanjh’s song ‘Shraab Wargi’ was being played,” says Dharennavar.

He prepared the petition for two reasons: Noise pollution and the subject of the songs. All three governments (Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh) have become parties to the case. “More than 15 hearings were held over three years before the decision came in 2019,” says Dharennavar. “A question has been raised regarding playing vulgar songs on online platforms as well. Although the court did not specifically mention the ban online or offline in its order, the spirit of the order is that such songs should not be played anywhere, whether in live shows, on the internet or on any other platform.”

Removed songs

Inspector General of Police, Special Task Force Satheesh Balan said Haryana police had asked YouTube and other social media platforms in the last two years to remove around 60 songs that allegedly promoted violence and gun culture. This was part of the effort to glorify crime in Haryana.

Although it is difficult to measure the impact of such songs, Balan notes that some songs may be influenced by content that incites aggressive masculinity.

In 2025, two concerts, including one in Gurugram, were stopped midway due to the playing of these songs. However, the action sparked strong protests in the music industry, with some artists accusing the police of targeting several singers. Masoom Sharma said that there were hundreds of songs encouraging violence on different platforms, but the police wanted the six songs he sang to be removed. He hinted at a conspiracy.

Social media content creator Rakhi Lohchab, who has over 6 lakh followers on her Instagram account, also supported the singer and posted videos demanding that the police act impartially.

In the Monsoon Session of the Haryana Assembly in 2025, Congress’ Shahdara MLA Ramkaran Kala sought a clarification from Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini that the song deletion against three singers was “excessive”: Masoom Sharma, Narendra Bhagana and Ankit Baliyan. Social Justice Minister Krishan Kumar said these singers “have done a lot for the pride of Haryana” and asked the CM to understand.

However, many of the ‘deleted’ songs are still available online. Dharennavar said the police had deleted the songs from the original accounts of the singers and production companies, but seemed helpless to remove them from many other accounts. “It is people’s social responsibility to take action by lodging a formal complaint with the police or relevant authorities for songs reposted from multiple accounts,” he says.

He explains that FM radio channels in and around Chandigarh will continue to play banned songs despite court orders, prompting him to write to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The Union government later issued a recommendation in 2022.

Songs in Haryanvi, Punjabi and Bhojpuri contain both violent and vulgar content, says Dharennavar. “After some MPs and representatives from organizations received these references, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting wrote to Online Publishers of Curated Content and self-regulatory bodies of OTT platforms to comply with Indian laws and comply with the Code of Ethics under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Code of Ethics) Rules, 2021,” says Dharennavar.

The Task Force held meetings with the music industry to highlight the risks of encouraging violence against not only the public but also artists.

Balan says some artists who gain fame through such content end up becoming victims, receiving demands or threats from gangsters to write songs praising them or sell content at low prices, which is then shared for profit. benami channels owned by gangsters.

“A few months after the police encounter, lyricists avoided such content but the trend re-emerged. But now the story has been changed to show that truth and goodness will prevail in the end,” notes Mukesh. He has written compositions on themes like cows, the army and inter-caste marriage, along with many reflective songs including ‘Maa Babu’. However, these failed to attract the attention of the audience. “I write two or three such songs every year. My peers do too, but it’s largely for personal gratification. These songs do not generate an income. They are high-energy tracks with provocative lyrics and themes of tolerance and aggression that resonate with young people,” he says.

“Jo thali chahiye parosani padegi, nahi to koi restaurant mein nahi aayega (We will have to serve the plate the customer wants, otherwise no one will come to the restaurant),” says Mukesh.

ashok.kumar@thehindu.co.in

Edited by Sunalini Mathew.