#260 Born to Shine

We trace Diljit Dosanjh’s rise from Gurdwara stages to global arenas, and why keeping Punjabi and the turban wasn’t a hurdle but a strategy. We also unpack gold’s place in South Asian households as security, inheritance, and signal in a volatile economy.

• Early life, first songs, and first breaks
• Met Gala, Coachella, and chart landmarks
• Acting craft and awards for Amar Singh Chamkila
• The GOAT origin story and Moonchild Era momentum
• Farmers’ protest, Rihanna’s tweet, and cultural solidarity
• Authenticity as competitive edge in global pop
• Personal concert memories and community pride
• Why South Asian families buy and keep gold
• Gold as safety, dowry politics, and rising prices
• Practical shifts in gifting, karats, and coins

Thank you for listening, you can hear Ravia every Thursday on 97.9 FM or through our live-stream at www.theuniversalradio.com

IG: @theuniversalradio

Transcript

Setting The Stage For Diljit

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hey everybody, it's Rabia. I'm so excited to talk to y'all. Getting into our show today, we are talking about the man who has won our hearts for over 22, 23 years, and now he is giving us a tour. Who's going? Have you guessed the name? Uh, you probably already know. It's Dilgito Assange, and I am so excited who's going, who got tickets? Like, I heard tickets were really insane to get, but oh my gosh, I'm so excited. Like, so many women, just I mean, so many women, so many people love him. But what's special about Dilgito Assange? 2025, he had an international Emmy nomination. He was nominated for Best Performance by an actor for his role in Amr Singh Temkila, an amazing actor. And that's what's amazing about Deljit, is he is he's like an artist in the in the purest sense. He treats his his music, his videos, his acting career very seriously. And and even the way he dresses. In 2025 at the Met Gala, he made history as the first male Punjabi singer to walk the Met Gala red carpet, wearing a tribute to Indian royalty, to Sikh Heritage. He brought Gurmuki, the Punjabi alphabet from the Indian side of Punjab to the red carpet. And he brought a turban to Punjab. There's actually so many beautiful, like, you know, recollections of him from that, like so many tweets or X things, whatever they're called now. Uh, people just talking about how much that meant to them. Just to see someone that looks like them up there, so like so cool. And and seeing your language, seeing it a language that comes from such a small part, it's a regional language from India, showing up on the red carpet is exciting as heck. And in 2023, was it he was the first, no, it was it was after that, right? But he was the first person in sick Punjabi origin to perform at Coachella in Punjabi. Like he was the first person. I think the the what from what I saw, he was the first guy to speak Punjabi on an international stage. Like that is so cool. And on the Billboards, he is never disappointed. His album Goat reached number one on Billboard's top thriller in Go Borough chart, and he was featured on a special Billboard Canada edition in 2024. And man, does he ever look good? And he also, oh man, Amir Ching Singh Jumkila was like the the role for him. There's this like scene of him lying down in the field, he's looking at the camera, and man, he really looks like Chemkila. It's really cool. Like it it's and he won 2025 Critics Choice Awards, he won Best Actor and 2025 Tifa Awards, he won acting excellence for Amr Singh Junkila. And I think this is just the beginning. Even though he is 20 odd years into his career, I am like I see this star just growing and growing, and I'm so grateful that I get to talk to you guys about it today. And after this, okay, I'm gonna start after this, I'm gonna tell you a really funny story about a concert I went to with Diljit like in 2014. But up next I have Deljit Smile, and you know, those early, early hits that just uh just take me back to, you know, Pagampo Ch Mia Vale, all those like the early years of Deljith. He tied his bug a little differently, he dressed a little different, but man, he was still a looker. That talent, that energy was still with him. It's crazy to me that Delgito Sanj's been in the game for like so many years, but his sound has stayed consistent. I mean, he's definitely grown and changed with the times, but it's it's that energy. I feel like it's always there with him, and I am so excited to talk to y'all about him. And I'm gonna first tell you a story about my time at a concert with Diljeet, and I'd like to say this I think it was 2014, 15, 16. I'm gonna be honest, those years were a blur to me. But I played field hockey at that time, so I, you know, I was a young athlete and field hockey predominantly played by like South Asian kids, but we had a few, you know, few white girls on that team, and the team was predominantly Punjabi. And I'm gonna be honest, we played a lot of Diljeet at our practices, and a lot of our workout music was Diljeet. And and also I think, you know, there's a few other people, but what what I remember is Diljeet, and the reason why I remember it is because we had Diljeet coming to Edmonton that spring, and he was performing at the Jubilee Auditorium. How many of you remember all of those fun old school concerts? Like the Bunabi community was so small that like getting a concert at the Jubilee Auditorium was like a big deal. It was so exciting. I've seen Gerdasma in there, we saw Diljit there, we saw Babu Man there, and it was just like just so fun because you were like, this is crazy, we get this stage, and now we're selling out arenas. Like, what? This is this is so exciting to me. And but okay, so during that time, Diljeet was here at the Jubilee, and I honestly, I think at that time I was like, Oh, I don't really want to go to this concert. I was in that phase that I think a lot of kids go through where you're like, oh yeah, my culture, like whatever, it's just like a thing, like um, too cool. But my white friends, they were like, We love Diljit and Ravia. Do you think we could go to the concert? And I was like, honestly, yes, well, let's go. So we went with my family. So it was my mom, my cousins, I think my dad was there, and my two friends, I think it was Emily and Vivian. And I, and shout out to those girls because you know how Punjabi concerts back in the day, anyways, everyone would like sit and he would just sit there and he would watch and you would, you know, clap because you were classy. Sometimes a Madeir would dance, but girls, these white girls were like, no, no, no, we need to dance to this song. So what they did was they got up in the aisles and they were dancing. And the craziest part is Diljeet stopped in in between his performances and gave him a shout out. He was so excited. At multiple points, they were like, you know, connecting, like their eyes were connecting, they were dancing. And I, I think at that time was too shy. I don't know if I danced. I think I probably stood there like a silly girl, but I had a lot to learn from those friends. Like, you gotta, you gotta seize the moment. You never know where this guy's gonna end up. And just looking back on that, and that was like, you know, 10, 12 odd years ago, but how exciting! Like, I it's just like it feels like a full circle moment. I mean, it's not full circle, the circle's gonna keep growing, of course. But it was just it was exciting to like reflect on that and think about that and seeing him grow as an artist. But let's talk about, you know, let's talk about where he came from. Like, where did he become? Where did he like start? So Biljit Assange, he was born in the Sanj Golan's. Uh yes, he has the same last name as his band in Punjab. He was born in the year of 1984. And he describes his childhood as being humble. His his dad was a um a government worker for the railway in India, his mom was a housewife, he has two sisters, and he describes this being a young child, his sister's kind of like controlling his life, like his older sister kind of being like, Hey, do this for me. He was as an older sister myself, I relate, like, your little brother is your minion a little bit. Sorry, Arsh, I love you, but this is something that happens, you know, they they're they're your little bud, they'll get things done for you. And Deljeet was that for his elder sister. And little do we know that that little relationship that he had with his sister was gonna be quite, quite fruitful. He talks about uh his sister has, you know, and this is famously, he's a little bit like nervous in speaking English, but his sister had a double MA, double masters in English, and she was doing tuition. So in India, it's very common for kids to like go to extra, extra school, extra tuition after. And he was like really he had to go with her because obviously little brothers have to do that, right? And he was not into it. He's like, I need to find a way out of this. Luckily, the guy that was tutoring them was a poet and had no one to sing his poetry. And he said, the the tutor said, Hey, if you someone can sing this and memorize this, uh, you can get out of this. And he said, Yeah, get me out of here. I'm gonna sing my little heart out. And there he was in that moment, he became a singer. He started singing, and people started calling him Kalakar, so I started calling him the singer, and then he became, you know, he he was like, Yeah, heck yeah, I am. That's who I am. And this is where Viljeet's journey starts. So I was looking at like old pictures of Viljeet, and I was thinking, you know, his bug style changes like significantly. And you know how people say like that is like it is it just changes the way a person does. And I know, you know, for weddings, people will hire like a bug stylist, and I know for a friend of mine, they you know, there's hijab stylists for for pe women that were hijab. And sometimes when I when I go to a wedding, you had the makeup artist to pin your chimney, and and it's just it's it's just a whole thing, but it really changes the way you look. But it is very important to Dilji that he had a turban, and that was a main point of contention when he was coming up in the world or coming up in the music world, and is that people were telling him, like, hey man, this is not this is not the world, like everyone's clean shaven, everyone is not, you know, no one wears a bug in this industry because that's not that's not what people do. But he kept it on, he kept wearing it, and he brought it to the red carpet, and he keeps on showing up as who he is. He's you know, stands up for India, stands up for Punjab. He is that guy, and he really makes us feel like you know, we can be comfortable in our own skin too. I'm gonna go back to talking about Doljit's journey. So he began his musical journey maybe a little bit earlier than the time that he, you know, started to try to get out of his tuition, his uh extra schooling, his uh coupon probably, uh, by singing, because his uh tutor was a poet, and he said, Boy, I can make that poetry sound good. And he started going for it, singing, so get out of school. But he began his music journey pretty humbly, singing Garbani at local Gordoras before releasing his debut album, Ishk the Adda Udda Adda in 2003. And and he says this story that when he was 16, 17, like when he was a kid, he was so sure he wanted to do music, like do 1617, and he wanted to sign a contract, he was going to like these places that released music, he was going to their like places, uh, his off their offices, and he was like, I wanna be a singer, I wanna be a singer. And they were like, buddy, you can't you're you're a kid, you can't sign this contract. And and he says he had support from his parents. I don't know what that was about, but at 18, he got in there, he got his foot in the door, he got a meeting with someone, and he said, Hey man, I wanna sing. This is what I want to do with my life. This thing is gonna sing. Sorry, that was cheesy. I'm so sorry, but but but he wanted to do that, and he went into these interviews, or he went into this like room, and that and the man in the room said, Hey, well, you need money for that, so do you have any friends that can pay you? Like, you know, can can back you? And the dude said, No, I don't have any friends that can back me. Who has friends like that? What do you mean? As the Ambandeya, we're like regular people. He's like, Do you have a family that can do that? And he was like, What the heck? No, my dad works at a government job, my mom's a housewife, like we got two sisters who are married. What are you talking about? So that that's where he started. And then he was, you know, talking to this this uh producer, and the producer said to him, You know what? I I'll back you. And he backed Diljeet, and he launched Diljeet's career in 2003, and what followed was not just commercial success, but a transformation of Punjabi music into a globally resonant genre, and now we see him performing with Ed Sheeran and coming off with international songs. He was in an Uber in a taxi with Shakira. Like, that is unheard of. And I think about it all the time, you know, the way that we self-select ourselves out of uh, you know, doing fun things because we're like, I'm South Asian, or I'm a woman, or I am this, so I can't do that. And maybe we need to shift that narrative. And that's something Giljit did that did for many like turban-wearing Punjabi sick people out there. Feel like, wait, I can dream bigger, I can look into this, I can walk the red carpet and wear my traditional clothes and wear what I want and represent my culture, and that's important. And I I appreciate him for that, and I hope we can continue to appreciate him tonight with all of this music that we get to listen to. Listening to him like throughout the years, it it brings back so many memories. Like certain songs take you to like that song came out during this person's wedding, and it was ah, like that. It just it's so fun. And emerging in the mid-2000s, the Assange helped modernize Punjabi Pop. And he, you know, we're gonna talk a bit more about Punjabi Pop next week, but he like blends the folk traditions with hip hop, rap, global pop aesthetics, and kind of like when I talked about Jazzy B, he is someone that like you know took a sound that was very traditional, very folk-based, and made it into his own. He knew what people liked, and there's there's many interviews of it about him talking about how he just worked and worked and worked. And when he was young, he thought um pre-2020, he says 2020 was a year that changed his life. We'll talk about that later. But he said pre-2020, he was thinking about how much money can I make, how much success can I get. And he thought success meant making the most money. And I think, you know, with the COVID pandemic, slowing things down, that made us a lot of us like reevaluate life. Like that's that was the reality of that year. And he he points to that year as an important year in his life that that changed things for him. And but before that, he was thinking about I need to make more money. And he thought, like, I would never say no to a thing, to a concert. I was gonna be there. I never canceled, I would be going from Armritzar to South India, we'd go to Canada, I was I was doing all this stuff. And and in the early 2000s, he was working with so many artists, namely Yo-Yo Honey Singh and later artists across continents. So he he really positioned Punjabi music within international youth culture. Like, I think when you look at his stats, like people that are listening to him are like 16 to 25, and maybe 16 to like 21 are the ones that are like listening to it the most because they want those Jekamegane, they want that, you know, the next level, they are goats, they are, you know, listening to Moonchild, and they're like, Hey, maybe I can be a little edgy. That's something that happens. But those albums, you know, bring this like merging of his own comfortability in his own skin, but he also is quite vulnerable and he plays, he has this folk sound and he experiments, and it it makes it really, really fun to watch. And alongside this music career, he became one of the most influential figures in Punjabi cinema. Like his his first debut film was The Line of Punjab, and it reached massive success with other films like Jack and Juliet, which is you know, had Jet and Juliet 2, Jet and Juliet 3, maybe there'll be a fourth one. People keep liking them, I'm sure they'll keep making them. He made also some very serious films like Punjab 1984 and Urta Punjab in 2016, which is a Bollywood film, which marked a turban turning point in that, in that in his trajectory, because that film he points to, and and other people have said this too. It proves that a turbaned sick actor could command national screens without compromising identity, without compromising ticket sales, and that is important. And you know, he's one of those people that does break down those barriers, but he does not look back. He doesn't say, uh, yes, I I broke that door down and I'm fine. He says, What's the next thing? What is the next cool thing I can get? What what is the next achievement? And and I think what happened in 2020 was his involvement with the farmers protest. Do you guys remember that? Those heated exchanges with Ganganar and Avath on Twitter. Then there was like, you know, the Indian government was mad at him, and then you know, there's all this back and forth happening. But at the same time, he's staying true to himself. And and since, you know, all that stuff has died down, and there's, you know, I don't know, there's there's different things happening there. And I I don't want to comment on that today because I actually don't know that much about it. But there is a certain level of like of clarity that you see in the Sanj, in the Dito Sange. You see it in his in his vision, in the way that he wants to achieve, and he's very comfortable with being himself throughout it. He says he meditates every morning, he eats uh, what was it, onda bread in the morning? And you know, this I was just researching this and I was like, why do I know what he eats every day? But that's what happens when you, you know, are watching interviews of an artist. And alongside this, he's like, you know, gone beyond entertainment. Like that's what I that's what I'm trying to say. Like he's a symbol of diasporic pride, and we are so thankful for Diljit to come into our city. Did you know that the Dildeet the Sange was invited to the Mecala Red Carpet, not in 20, not the year that he walked it, but the year before. And the reason why he didn't go that year was because he had a concert in Edmonton.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

I think this guy loves us. I think he loves Edmonton, guys, and I think his concert's gonna be so fun, and I'm so excited.

Cinema Impact And Urging Authenticity

Farmers’ Protest And Rihanna Moment

The Making Of GOAT: A Three‑Year Vision

Moonchild Era And Record Charts

Coachella And Late‑Night TV Leap

Recent Films, Global Press, And Met Gala

Songbook Tour Through Eras

SPEAKER_00 17:21

And I just I saw that in like his interview uh when he was he does this like you go on YouTube and you look up uh Bilgitho Sanjala, there's like a little vlog of his day in the life, and he says that, and I was like, oh my god, Edmonton mentioned this is so exciting. And I've also seen him wear an Oilers jersey, like uh when he was judging one of those singing shows in India. I remember taking a picture of it, and it's in my Snapchat memories. It comes up every so often, and I'm like, oh my god, Edmonton represent. Like, does he love us? I think he loves us. And I I'm that this is why like him coming to the city is exciting because I think he does have a dedication to his fans that other people might have. They might have seen them seen the Met Gala as a moment for, you know, well, I should chase this. But he said, no, I have a show, people bought tickets, I'm gonna show up for the people, and I'm gonna show out. And oh man, his his concert was great. So I I was learning, I learned this uh recently, and this semester at the Toronto Metropolitan University, that you can take a university course on Delgit Assange. Did you know that? Like, I didn't know that, and I would like I would love that. Like, no, seriously, it's not it's not a fan club, it's not just a playlist, it's not me, you know, giving you this crash course on Delgit and Punjabi music, but it's it's a it's like uh you know, like a music sound development. And they partnered with uh TMU, so TMU is the Toronto Metropolitan University, used to be known as Ryerson, um, has partnered with Billboard Canada to launch a course talking about the Diljit Assange and the global Punjabi music movement. And it's the the course is described as not being just about Punjabi music, but it's about how Punjabi music blends folk traditions with hip-hop, pop, RB, and Arabic sounds even, and how artists build global fan bases without abandoning their language, how cultural identity has become a business strategy. I'm gonna sit with that for a bit. Cultural identity becomes a business strategy. I I think I could unpack that a little further, but let's go back to Dilgito Assange. How music strengthens communities across borders. That's that's one thing that this course examines. And the course developer and creative industries professor Charlie Wall Andrews explains it like this The course traces the evolution of Punjabi music from folk to or and oral traditions to the global genre it is today. Students explore how it becomes a force for cultural expression and international influence from grassroots anthems to contemporary chart toppers. And in other words, it isn't in it's not just nostalgia. It's like the the this course is centering Punjabi music as an important piece for these people who are uh you know the future of music to like these people that are working, you know, in these uh in these like culture studies classes, and they're you know, they're gonna be the people working at these like you know record companies, etc. They are learning about Punjabi music in this class, and that I think that changes things because I don't know if everyone's exposed to it. Maybe now they are, but maybe not everyone knows the meanings behind things, the the significance around folks' cultures, the way that things have you know expanded for our community. And um, Billboard Canada president Mo Gonim, Gonim, I I should have learned how to pronounce that, I'm so sorry, y'all. But say plainly, artists like Tiljit Dosange are redefining what it truly means to be global. He's not just setting records, he's pushing past the limits of language, geography, and representation. And he didn't, and that the important point is Deljit did not switch languages to appeal to a global audience. He stuck with Punjabi, he didn't neutralize his accent, he still says Matha Punjabi Bolnia when he goes to an interview. He's very open, very honest about what are his strengths are and plays on those. He didn't remove his turban, he expanded the map. And from sold-out arenas in in Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver, and the first Punjabi artist at Coachella, he showed us that global success doesn't come from just blending in, but it comes from standing firmly where you are. Okay, I'm gonna be honest, earlier that tonight I was shying away from this topic, but I'm gonna dive deep into it was Delgito Zanja's 2020 involvement, but also like fallout, maybe a little bit from the farmers' protest. And he frames that year as a year where his perspective changed, and we see that in his music. His music, he went from like, you know, filming a lot of films, coming out with a song here and there, and then he drops back to back hits. We get Goat, we get Moon Child, we get all of that right after 2020. And what happened in 2020 was yes, the COVID 19 pandemic, which you know slowed everyone down, film movies weren't being Filmed anymore. But what also happened, and I think it's like a um it's maybe a grievance if I don't bring it up, is the farmers' protest. And the farmers' protest, if you don't remember, was farmers in India were asking the government to take back these bills that had been kind of shadily introduced into the parliament in India. And the farmers were like, hey man, we just want the old rules back. And it became a huge cultural movement, a whole, you know, there's songs about it, there's uh studies done on it. Uh, fun fact, I did write a study on it. I lied earlier when I said I didn't know much about it. I was just shy. I was shy. But here we are talking about it. So he, you know, he participated in it, but it was also like there were heated exchanges between Deljit Losange and Kanganar Navat. If you look them up, they're up there. But I don't think those, those exchanges define who Deljit Losange are, or maybe all of his like beliefs. But what they do show is that he does stand up for his people. When it comes down to it, he is 10 toes down. And at the time, I don't know if you remember, but Rihanna had tweeted about uh the farmers' protests. It was like, it was like this uh picture uh article, and she just said, uh, why aren't we talking about this question mark? And it was actually like a series of tweets she had where she was just bringing, you know, retweeting a bunch of articles about uh things that were happening in the world. So I think one of them was like a natural disaster in another area, and there was something else going on, and and one of them was the farmers' protests, and that that was a big deal in India. Like people were burning pictures of Rihanna's face, which is crazy. Like it was a tweet. But Vilgita Sand was like, Rihanna, Rihanna, you girl, you're with the farmers. This is the best thing ever. And he went as far as writing, singing, and producing a song called Reary about Rihanna. And this was in response to the tweet that she made in support to the farmers' protest. And this, like, really, uh, the like though this Rihanna's post prompted many Bollywood idols and other public figures to tell the world to stay out of Indian affairs. He was so thankful that he sang and wrote this whole song. And this this led to a world of Punjabis, young and old, who may have never heard of Rihanna, to plastering her pictures throughout the protests and being like, Rihanna's with us. So that's the power you get when you're when you're when you're with the Punjabi community and you support them. They're they're with you. Uh, and I and I hope that that positive relationship with Rihanna stays. And I I hope and pray that there is a Liljeet and Rihanna song out there somewhere. I know Rihanna's living her life, she has a child, she's, you know, Fenty's popping off all that. But I am one of those uh unfortunate but fortunate loyal fans of Rihanna. But as of today, Greary has 7.5 million views on YouTube. And there's like uh, you know, this music against governments. It's and maybe it wasn't even against governments, it was just like, hey girl, I love you, thank you for this. But it did like shake some people up and be like, hey, this is crazy. It really helped rally a lot of people, get people interested into what she was doing, and it gave like vigor to the activism of the protesters themselves. They're like, hey, we have all of this, um, all of this like great, great stuff coming out of of this protest, and we can have this music. The album Goat was one of those kind of breakthrough albums for Diljeet, even though he's been in the game for years. It was like it'd been 18 years at that point that Diljith was making music, making music, making movies and more music, of course. And he finally, maybe not finally, because he was he's always been big in my heart. And and goat for me on a personal level, I don't think I actually realized how big of a deal it was for the because he was already a big deal in my in my mind. And when goat became this big thing, it's it, you know, it really exposed him to other other audiences, of course. But the making of goat is especially, especially interesting. So this story is uh is from this interview that he did with Raj Shimani. He he interviews a bunch of people on YouTube, but that's one of the things that uh Dil Git Assange talks about is the rise to stardom of Dil Git, but also how Goat and that album really, really like launched, second, secondarily launched his career to to a global scale. So in 2017, G-Funk sent the beat to the Assange, uh to Deliz Assange of that, of of what you what we know as goat today. And at the time, he was like, Lil'jith was like, yo, I love this beat, can you keep it? Um he said, please don't share this beat with anyone, I want it, but let's make a song to this. But in 2017, he locked that away, you know, was was like, I maybe I want to do this. And in 2020, G Siddhu wrote an intro for an album that Liljith had been working on. And that intro, he loved it, but the album he was working on were not matching the vibe of the that that energetic intro that we hear, you know, that what's up, what's up, what's up? Like it wasn't that vibe. He was like, it was kind of like, you know, songs like Bonnie and like all of that were like, you know, a little bit more like slow. He's like, that's that's not matching. So he's like, what's the vibe here? When he heard that intro, he thought of that beat from 2017. That was sent to him by G Funk. So G Sudhu wrote the intro and G Funk made the beat. And he said, Oh man, I really hope that beat's still available. So he he still had the beat, so he played it with the intro and he said, Oh, this is perfect. So he sends a message to G-Funk and he says, Hey man, uh remember that beat you sent me. Can I use it? Did you give it to anyone else? Turns out G-Funk had sent that beat to Garnotula. Uh-oh. But but all was well because Diljit and Garn chatted, and Garn had actually written a verse and sent it to Diljit. And he asked, and Diljit was like, This is sick, I love this. And then he asked Garn to write the whole song for him. And that song and the creation of that song took over three years, different people, all these resources, but he knew that this vibe, this creation, this intro, these lyrics, this writer, all of this is gonna come together. And he believed in that vision. And I think that takes that like that that know-how of the industry, of maybe the market, of of what sounds good. Like just having a good vibe check, having good taste is what Diljeet's known for. Like he dresses so cool. Apparently, he dresses himself. Like, can I wish like that's like so many people that are in that creative space, they pay stylists, they do all these things, but he's like, no, buddy, I do this myself. Or, you know, supposedly. So I I choose to believe him because I think that's really cool. And I think the story behind this song is really special because it just goes to show that, you know, all the work that you're doing right now, that you know, that that essay you're writing, the the thing, new thing you're learning, the tireless hours you're putting into something, you never know when three, four years down the road that connection, that email, that song, that something is gonna turn into something big and maybe even launch what people call a second career for Dilgit Assange. And and I don't think it's a second career, I think it is the the the flowers that Dilgit deserved. Never give up, never what, never give up, never what, never back down. And that's what Assange did. It was his 11th album, Goat, that caused him to become the star and receive the stardom and the roses that he has today. And I think this is a story of perseverance and not just hard work, but of creativity, of leaning into what's happening, being flexible, you know, learning from the new, the young folks that are in the game, and not letting your inner child die. And that's what we see in the Sanji's, you know, Instagram persona that he has. It's so fun, so playful. He's very real, very raw. And that that makes him a joy to witness. And in 2021, a year later, after after the goat, which you know rose to the top of Billboard's top driller Globo chart, in 2021, he didn't stop. He released his 12th album, Moonchild Era, which was written by R Raj Rinjoold and Argent Delon. Oh my god, y'all. I'm gonna be talking about Argent Delon in a few weeks. I'm so second, but uh this was this album, Moonchild, was number 32 on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart, which made him the first Indian artist to have his three albums on Billboard charts, which is special. He's a transnational, international superstar. In 2021, he made it to the 100 sick, the sick 100 list, so like top 106, I think. And he released his debut film as a producer, um, not just an actor, but a producer, Hans Larac. And that was a that was a fun film, which had Sonum Badwa and Shenazgill and Shinda Garwal alongside him. And the film made 5.5 grud on its opening day, making it the highest-grossing film, Punjabi film on any opening day. And this was just the beginning. So this was 2021, a year after 2020, the year that he said changed his life. He, you know, re-evaluated things, shifted the way he was working somehow, became grounded in himself, and set his foot forwards and set his sights on growing Belgiet Losange. And did he ever? In 2022, he signed with Warner Music. And I think that was a big deal. In 2022, he signed with Warner Music, and that year he also was performing and selling out those huge concerts. He, you know, he knows where he knew where that success was gonna take him. If you have sold out concerts, people like Coachella are gonna see that. They're gonna see how many tickets you're selling, they're gonna see, hey, this guy's causing a stir. We we want this. And in April 2023, DeSange performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, making him the first Indian Punjabi to do so. How exciting! And that that he describes that, you know how Punjabi Age became this huge thing. He just said, I just said it from my heart. It didn't, it didn't mean to become this like PR strategy and this this thing that has merch, you know, it becomes merch, but it it did. It's just he describes it as just being himself and that that playfulness, that that that's a part of his art that I I truly appreciate. And in 2024, Tiljit played the song, uh the Punjabi singer Jimki Amr Singh Jumkila, opposite to Bay Niti Chopra in Mtiaz Ali's film Amr Singh Jemkila, which released on Netflix. And this this performance was was a um was a testament to his like his diversity as an artist. And so Barnash Sharma, who who was uh a reviewer of the movie, said Biljeet's eyes are lively pools of expression, and the range of things he can convey with just his eyes is exceptional. As a singer, he is of course in his element here because he was singing all the songs, which is beautiful. He was confident and engrossed, but he carries Jim Gila's fame with a confused smile of someone who can't believe what is happening, which I believe really told that story well. In 2024, because of course the same year he releases this amazing movie, he also gets invited to the Tonight Show with Jim Jimmy Fallon in June 2024. And he played two songs, Born to Shine and Goat, because boy was he ever born to shine, right? And he sang this uh as a promotional song, Baireva Anthem, where he shared screen with the Brabas for the Telugu sci-fi film Galki 28 2898 AD. And he played the lead role of an insecure lover alongside Nirubadwa in the Punjabi language comedy film Jet and Juliet 3. Like Jet and Juliet, man, that that franchise is so funny, like it just keeps going, but people love it, so they're gonna keep picking them. But like this, it this film also ended up becoming the second highest grossing film of Punjambi, like Punjabi film of all time. Like, it's incredible. Like, right? In and in 2025, I told you the Matt Gallis story. He was wearing this custom Maharaja ensemble with this ivory cape and this turban that has gold and jewels studded into the turban, into the bug, and a ceremonial sword that he actually snuck onto the red carpet because Shakira was in front of him and she was wearing a metal dress and he just snuck his way in behind her. They told him, You can't take that in. And he was gonna leave it behind, but he kind of just was like, you know what? He didn't tell him until the last one. He's like, you know what? Maybe I can take some pictures with it, maybe I can get in. And he brought it in. And if you see those photos, he's carrying that sword with prize, with pride. And what's next for him? We see him in border two, we see him uh, you know, making more music, and I just see this man growing and and continue to be a rising star in our lives. Do you remember what you were doing in 2002? I don't I don't know what I remember, but I do remember I was probably, you know, hanging out with my cousins and you know wearing some of those low-rise jeans, but I was pretty young, so I let me know what you were doing in 2002. Do were you even born in 2002? That's a good question. And that's where we started with Deljeet's story today. And we get to see him continue to grow as an artist and see him perform in our city. Oh man, that is so exciting. So we have all of these eras of of Deljeet and and quite the like career. We're we're talking from his album Smile, from Mena Dilni Parai Vitalagda Akram vit.

SPEAKER_01 36:21

Sorry, I'm singing. Like, why do I do that?

Pivot To Gold And South Asian Households

Gold As Security, Dowry, And Inheritance

Why Gold Prices Are Surging

SPEAKER_00 36:23

But Pagambo Jimmyamale to chocolate to you know being next to Yo Yo Honey Singh with Pangan, the next level, from his great album back to basics, radio, from proper patola, nakre swag. Like, come on, who was saying that in those times? It was Diltith, he was the one doing that. From Chander, that is such a fun song. Chandra is such a go-to, like jug go dance song. It's so fun. From a little bit more romantic with Jenno, and then going back to the Karku, but it's Karku to strawberry. This sidaru, high-end, mediocre, not Lamborghini, Lamborghini, Virvar, Band Boto. We have iPhone, man. Such a such a good, such a good trajectory. We see we have trac, we have chunni, we have panchtara, we have a collab with Kerdasman, Kiba Nudoniada. That's such a great song. Oh, I completely forgot about this one. Rat Digeri, so cute. We have Much, we have Lover. You know, we're getting into the the dance feats that we hear on the dance floors and on the radio all the time. We have La Lakara, we have El Sueno, what a beautiful music video that is. Hey, like what's going on? Why is everyone so gorgeous? We have high-end, we have goat, we have moonchild, we have Goka, we have Tension, Charmer, Dawn, I forgot about Dawn, and we have Guffer, which we'll be playing next. And this is this is what's exciting to me is like all of these songs actually make me excited. And I have such like intimate memories tied into each one of these songs. Like, I'm like, I remember when Chatri or Umbrella came out, it was like someone's, it was uh my cousin of mine, Sajit uh Sangeet, and we had umbrellas and as a part of like the decoration, and everyone kept picking up the umbrellas and dancing with them. It's just there's always, always a good time. So, up next, I'm gonna be getting into a juicy topic. We're gonna get into it. We're gonna get a little zetti and uh uh no, we're gonna be talking about tomato tomato, and we will be digging into why do we have so much gold? Why do South Asian housewives have the most gold in the world? They have up to 11% of the world's gold, according to a Times India article. How many of you are married, or how many of you have seen someone get married and you see the obscene, and I don't want to say obscene, but like a lot of golds being exchanged, being shown, being worn at weddings, or as gifts? And why is it so important as a part of South Asian culture? And why do 11% of this South Asian households, or it was Indian households, uh uh uh housewives own all the gold? That is something that I'm gonna dive into. And one of the things I wanna think about is what does it mean to be a woman who wasn't able to have a job, to have a career, to leave, you know, you were dependent on your husband or your like father, and with this gold, you received a little bit of freedom. So in 2020, Indian Times declared that Indian women owned 11% of gold worldwide. And this didn't surprise me the least. Like the figure itself is like kind of hard to like figure out, but it's widely understood that there is a demand in of gold in India and also a hoarding of gold, and it is a pan-Indian, maybe even South Asian phenomenon that is unparalleled, which is a quote from anthropologist Milika Meherta. And so I'm sharing the story from a blog of Sadia Ansari. And Sadia Ansari is the author of this book called Exile, Rupture, Rapture, Reunion, and My Grandmother's Secret. She writes about her Nani. So Nani is your maternal grandmother. She said, Nani knew all of this when she passed the coins into her daughter's hands and said, Beta, she told her daughter before she left to move to a new country in the 1990s, she said, Beta, don't take any hardship. She pressed gold coins into her daughter's hands so that she knew that if her daughter going to this new country, marrying a man that she had never met, at least her daughter could take these gold coins to the bank, cash them in, buy a plane ticket, and come home. It was the least that her nani could do to assuage her daughter's fears. After all, when Sadia Sari's mother boarded her flight from Karachi to New York, she hadn't even met her husband yet. And in reflection on this, Sadia Zami says, it was so painful. She recalled that memory. And in this, she recalls that her mom's voice was quite low but steady, and she paused and repeated to herself an even quieter voice. It was so painful. This story fascinates me, and I'm always interested in how people understand how our inheritances fit into a larger scheme of sociological, cultural mores. I'm not saying that she's a gold zigger, but what I am saying is that it is a culturally relevant way to make her feel secure in a relationship that might take away some of her autonomy. Okay, that's all I'm saying. So we're talking about gold in South Asian households. And I know the stat that I keep like referencing is that 11% of all the gold in the world is owned by Indian housewives. But like the story I just mentioned by Sadia Ansari, she's born in a Pakistani household. You know, we're just reframing it like South Asians. We we have a lot to share. And this is one of those things that we share. And she shares the importance of the gold that her nanny gave to her Ami uh in the 90s as kind of a safety net when she was moving to Canada. And it across this journey, or so she was moving to New York, but across this journey, we see gold and marriage being inextricably linked across South Asian culture. So it was used, and it not even in the story, but other, you know, religions and stories and other places. There's gold acts as both a dowry and financial security for a young wife. Your marital status can sometimes even determine how much gold you wear. So younger, unmarried women wear a lighter chain, and when you get married, it's assumed that you are wearing more gold because you're being gifted all of this gold. And a lot of times, parents spend their entire lives working to buy gold for their daughter's wedding. There's even stories. I was reading uh a research article on gold and the Middle East. There's stories of a young man who was working and sending over 50% of his paycheck back home so that his family could buy gold for his sister's wedding. It is central to the way that we function. It is central to the way that we believe in creating security for women in a system that often is creating insecure situations for women. And there's a lot of empowerment for women found in having gold, but it does become, you know, a bit of a power symbol. You know, my family has this much gold. This person was wearing this set, this person was wearing this, that person wears these gangan. It it is it is a bit of the posturing because it is, you know, it's wealth that you can wear, but it is also. You know, people get like those little coins, those uh, I don't know if you can get a brick. Maybe you can get a brick, but you can get those things and you can keep them in a bank, and that's also that's also a thing. So, what happens when you don't get married? And your family has been saving this gold for you your entire life, and and I'm seeing that a lot with the women of my generation, and I'm so grateful for it, you know, forging the path for what it's like to be a single woman. And I I think it's something to to honor and to be like, hey, you are, you know, setting a new way of living of being for other people. I don't think marriage is the final end goal for everyone's life. I don't think everyone's meant to be married, but maybe that's controversial. I'm sorry, but that's something that I'm gonna say. But because I think it's it's a very personal decision, your life is tied to someone, and and I think when women don't get married, they get a lot more slack than men. Men are just considered the shutter, the single man of the family. They they have a role to fill in providing for their family that is their home. But when there's a daughter, sometimes she's considered a burden, and that bothers me. But what happens when that daughter doesn't get married, but the family's been saving gold up for her her entire life? Do you have an inheritance? I don't know what my inheritance is. I sure hope that I get a Prius.

SPEAKER_01 45:21

I'm just joking.

Tradition, Risk, And Modern Trade‑Offs

Sign‑Off And Listener Support

SPEAKER_00 45:23

I I I hope I got my dad's beautiful smile and my mom's eyes, and that's my inheritance. That's good enough for me. But what we have is we're talking about what's an inheritance that's conditional that exists, and and some of those things look like gold, and gold is one of those things that's often passed down at weddings. And what happens when you don't get married? That's the question that we're thinking about right now. So, in this, it there's some stories where women don't get married and and women are not passed down that gold. So, but some people it is considered like your mother's gold is still gonna be given to you, but you kind of have to ask for it. What does that mean? So when I'm thinking about inheritances, I'm also thinking about the gendered nature of inheritances. So, in a lot of countries, including India, including Pakistan, including Canada, for a while, patrilineal inheritance meant men inherit land from men. And that land gives you access to, you know, how you're gonna eat food, how you're gonna make money, how you're gonna do things. But what women inherit was gold. It is assumed that when women get married, they weren't given they because the woman is the person that is moving, they're given property that can be moved. It is easy to transport and it can be seen liquid as cash. So it can get you out of a pinch if you need. You you take it to somebody, you they give you enough to cover your rep for a few months. That is the assumption when people are giving their daughter gold. So it's given, it's given to women as inheritance, and it's especially given during weddings. It's a good investment, you know. It the gold has gone up in the last few years. I mean, that's that's for sure. In the last few months, I know that's for sure. And we see it continue to rise as one of those solid investments that people want to put their money towards to build a future for themselves. Before bank lockers were accessible to people of the middle class, they were, you know, people were hiding gold at home. They were digging holes underneath the stove, and historically it saved people during hard times. So there's one uh Merortha who is the anthropologist, Nilika Merortha, who who explains that her own family has seen this, and that her after her grandmother moved from Lahore to the Indian part of Punjab following partition, jewelry was the only asset she had left. And she sold it all save for a pair of earrings and a ring to set up a new life. So this gold is what is what helped her rebuild a life after a major shift, a major migration. And that gold had maybe even been passed down generation after generation just in case something happened. I think that's special because it's almost like you're receiving blessings from, you know, your grandmother, maybe your great-grandmother. And I come from a background that's rather humble and there wasn't a lot of gold that's gonna end up with me. I mean, my parents had a lot of siblings, so but there's there's small pieces of it, and I think that's precious. So some people think that, like, you know, I you can view it as a blessing, but you can also view it as something that's not feminist because you can see it as a way of giving a daughter dowry. Now, what's dowry? Dowry is the practice that's been banned in India for a while, but people still do it, it's been bad in Pakistan. There's people still do it. It's one of those things, you know, people are gonna, it's those sneaky kids, they're gonna find a way. That's that's what they're gonna do. But dowry is a practice of when a woman gets married to a man, the woman's family essentially has to pay the men's family for taking their daughter away. And that is the presumption that's given there. But oftentimes it's just like sometimes the family just wants to gift their daughters things. But there is an idea of like not giving something to your daughter, and after you like, after um if that daughter refuses it, it's almost like you're disowning your daughter because they are no longer receiving this lineage, this, this, this blessing from from years and years before. Who knows someone that's getting married this year? I know way too many people getting married in the next few years. Like, come on, stop. The last five, six years of my life have been just going to wedding, wedding, wedding, wedding. I'm like, give me a break, y'all. And then they're saying it's my turn, but we'll see about that, all right? So we have, and and for all these weddings, people need to buy gold. And gold prices rises right now are sky high. I mean, prices for everything are sky high, but why is that? They have been breaking records, and and you know, probably a lot of the South Asian households are like, yes, this is amazing because I've always bought gold, and that's been my investment. And you've probably like almost tripled your investments in the last five, 10 years, which is exciting. But investors and analysts, goodness, are pointing to several big factors on why it's gone up. So the main one people are kind of pointing to is economic uncertainty, which is caused by geopolitical tensions and fears about slower economic global growth. So those are people, people are just thinking like, hey, it's safe to buy gold rather than buying reinvesting in this company or doing this, you know, in the stock market or or a different currency. Buy the currency of gold. It's a safe haven asset, they call it. Um, and and you know, there's there's another kind of reason is that people are thinking like the US dollar has fell, but gold is priced in dollars worldwide, and a weaker dollar makes gold cheaper for buyers using other currencies. So it it's boosted global demand and prices. But also, central banks across the world have bought a lot of gold. So countries like China, India, and others, and and not just the housewives of India, the central banks are buying gold for their reserves as a part of long-term economic planning. And when a central bank buys gold, do they ever buy gold? So it puts a pressure on the price. All this means is that the cost of buying jewelry, especially heavily like traditional pieces given at weddings or you know, festivals, is it's climbed a lot. And for South Asian families, this can strain budgets and reshape how gold gifting is approached. And sometimes families adapt to buying lighter gold jewelry, maybe 14 karat, maybe just doing coins or smaller items or delaying purchases, or you know, giving away more gold than you maybe thought you were at a marriage. That's those are some things that people might be doing. Or maybe you're just not into gold anymore. Maybe you're like silver also has gone up, and I'm gonna buy more silver. When we talk about gold in South Asian households, especially after marriage, we're talking about a lot of tradition, a lot of identity is tied into it, security, and and also like the real economics of the global market and what values gold does not just like, just doesn't shine for just that, but it it tells us about confidence, it tells us about currency, and it tells us about risk and how people treat risk and how gold can be one way that you can maybe you think you're decreasing your risk when you're buying it. And that is what I have to say about gold in South Asian households. Thanks for listening. And you are just a golden nugget, and I've been loving to talk to y'all. And thank you so much for all the love and support on the Universal Radio Network. Please give me a follow at DJ Ra Ra Rabia. That's three ras. That's good night for me.