CHANDIGARH: Surprising fans during a live show in Chandigarh, singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh announced that he “won’t perform (live) in India until infrastructure for it is improved.”
Stopping in the middle of a throbbing presentation on Saturday, he said, “Instead of bothering us (artistes), improve your concert infrastructure or I will not perform in India… I want to say this to the administration. We do not have proper facilities for live shows here. It is a big revenue source. A lot of people work (on these events) and get employment due to it. So, please pay heed to it.”
The statement was received by a fawning audience in the packed space with thunderous applause. Dosanjh also made it a point to say that it is not he who calls children to his recitals, but “parents bring them”.
Following Telangana’s move some time ago, Chandigarh Commission for Protection of Child Rights had issued an advisory regarding “maintaining noise level, not inviting kids to stage, and not singing songs promoting drugs, alcohol and violence” during the performance.
In a video that has now been shared widely on the social media, the singer, who has starred in films like ‘Chamkila’ and ‘Udta Punjab’, can be heard asking: “Will you stop me like this?”
Dosanjh’s much-in-demand Dil-Luminati India tour, which kicked off in Delhi on Oct 26 and has drawn massive crowds in every city it has premiered, has had it rough with the administrations in various states across country. It has been fraught with challenges for the entertainer.
Ahead of his concert in Hyderabad on Nov 15, Telangana govt issued a notice to Dosanjh asking him to “refrain from performing songs that promote alcohol, drugs, or violence”. It came after a professor from Chandigarh, Panditrao Dharennavar, filed a representation to authorities to not allow Dosanjh “sing such songs”. Accordingly, the singer at that time changed the lyrics of some of his songs, but criticised Telangana govt for restrictions imposed on him.
His next in Ahmedabad saw him issue a challenge of his own. “If alcohol consumption is banned nationwide, I will no longer sing songs that mention it,” he had said.
It was worse in Indore. Bajrang Dal and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) workers held a protest near the venue hours before the concert began. In response, Dosanjh dedicated his concert in the city to poet Rahat Indori, a resident of Indore who had died in 2020, and recited his lines: “If they oppose, let them; life is not at stake. This is just smoke, not the sky. Everybody’s blood (sacrifice) is mixed in this land’s soil, Hindustan is not anyone’s property.”