# 44 - I am sorry Dhinchak Pooja - I was wrong (follow up post).

 As my 4th standard PT teacher used to say, it takes b@!!s to own up to mistakes.

The MCP could have just used a gender neutral organ like "gut", or plain old "courage". 

But anyway, this post is neither about body parts nor my PT teacher.

It's about Pooja, Dhinchak Pooja. Yes, again, and no, I am not running out of things to write.

My last post was about her too, and it wasn't very respectful. And in the last month or so, the more I listened to, saw, and hummed Dhinchak Pooja's songs, I have come to regret what I had written.

And what better way to say sorry than to write another long post about her?

The jarring notes, shrill voice, backup dancers who can't dance and cars that don't go from point A to point B aside, what is the other thing that had you listening to Dhinchak Pooja (hereinafter referred to as "DP", affectionately)?

The lyrics.

On first hearing, the message being conveyed through DP's songs seems simple enough - she is just a girl, standing in front of a boy, taking selfies around town, drinking and encouraging others to drink, and of course, flaunting a newly acquired cap like a regular teen.

But then, listening to "daaru daaru daaru" for the 1782nd time, while drinking milk and wearing a cap which I hoped was close enough to be 'swaggy' that it finally struck me.

Selfie + Swag wali topi + Daaru Daaru Daaru playing in the background + Drinking cow-milk out of a cup I got for free = The Eureka Moment 

The lyrics are simple - yes, but the message being conveyed, anything but.

Selfie Maine Le Li Hai

So you were told that this song was about taking selfies?

Exasperating farrago of distortions, misrepresentations & outright lies being broadcast by masses of unprincipled showmen masquerading as intellectuals. 

Sorry, I have been wanting to use that phrase for some time now, context be damned.

Moving on.

You see, the selfie is a metaphor for independence. And DP stresses on selfies because she doesn't need anyone to take them for her...she doesn't need the society, she doesn't need no man, she doesn't need her friends (as elucidated so poetically through the line "chal be side hatt ja re uncle"). 

Just a girl taking selfies without giving a shit about the world. 

Just DP and her phone. Except she isn't holding a phone, she is holding a mirror to the society-at-large. And it isn't pretty. 

Then there are the cars.

If you look closely, DP's pals keep changing through all her videos (more on that later), the only thing common in her videos is the fact that cars have been featured constantly. The Audi in particular.

Coincidence?

You sexist stupid dumbass. 

In truth, the fact that the Audi has been showcased in all her videos tells us of the temporal nature of our relationships in this day and age. People come and people go, and we live in times that the only ones we can count on are machines.

DP can be so deep at times.

What's with her steering a car that doesn't move, you ask, desperate to prove that there's no rhyme and reason in the Dhinchak Pooja Universe.

"Look Ma, both hands."

You see, DP may be independent, intelligent, and capable, but this paapi samaj will not let her break free of the shackles. YOU, yes, the likes of you will not let DP tread her own path. You will stop her every step of the way.

This is what has been depicted so beautifully in the aesthetically shot scene that has her putting on a brave face as she steers a car that doesn't move. 

At least she's trying. You can make fun of her, take away her car keys, but she just won't quit.

In daaru daaru daaru, DP is at it again, breaking the gender stereotypes. 

You prehistoric man-child, you probably cringed when DP so casually crooned that she would bash up anyone and everyone who were not getting drunk.

Take a minute to ponder why you did that. Was it because the song sucked, the lyrics didn't make sense and the video was made with low production values?

Of course not.

I am willing to bet my lunch money that it goes against your outdated values to see and hear a beautiful lady out drinking men and threatening to beat up those who dare not drink at her party.

"Aise kaise keh sakti Hai" you subconsciously wonder, but you stifle your thought and make DP the butt of your jokes.

People like you make me sick. 

Here is DP, beating men at their own little sexist games, doing her bit for gender equality, and all that you can think of is which pub allowed her to shoot at their premises? Or even worse, why is the dancer making orgasmic faces?

Swag wali topi is another soothing number that has DP talking about her, well, swag wali topi. She also mentions that she rides nothing but Audis (while sitting inside a BMW). 

Unpredictable DP.

She is also surrounded by dark obese men in this video pretending to be African American for some reason - they have been conditioned to pump their fists every time DP says "topi".

Okay, the guy sitting on the car is kinda cool.

Clearly the 'topi' in question is more than a cap, it is a symbol of liberty, freedom, equality, and obviously, swag. Things so crucial that they need to be stressed- which DP does by repeating the same lines over and over again - the chorus becomes the song, and the song - the chorus, culminating into a war cry to women all over the country to stand up for their rights. 

This is also observed by virtue of the fact that the aforementioned obese men do precious little in the video. All her videos feature her in the spotlight and the men at best act as stars to the moon that is DP.

Is this a subtle indication that men are little more than background props in the lives of woman-folk in today's day and age? Perhaps.

DP also takes a dig at Bollywood. 

If you listen closely, the number 'Daaru Daaru Daaru' has more than a passing similarity to a popular Akshay Kumar party track. And like all party tracks the Akki track featured Akshay surrounded by a bevvy of firangi beauties.  

But trust DP to shake things up.

With basically the same music (sans the Honey Singh rap portion, thankfully), DP kills it by going the opposite direction, DP replaces Akshay Kumar in the video and instead of the item girls, there are item boys.

For more than a century, men have been dominating the hindi film industry, even as 50-year-old men get away with romancing 18-year-old-girls, DP rubs it in Bollywood's face with just three videos - turning cliches around with her cronies/boy toys. 

What's more, she doesn't care for the society's standards of beauty (fair & handsome those guys aren't....deliberately).

Jay Z & Beyonce?

I could go on and on about Dhinchak Pooja and what I have learnt from her songs.

But you wouldn't understand. You would call me crazy.

So, I would rather focus on like-minded people. People who actually get DP and her message.

Where am I going to find them?

Well, she has a concert coming up in the city.....

Images (apart from the selfie) are screenshots from Dhinchak Pooja's videos - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frw6uu3nonQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q67lQM-8s9I.