At his Sunday show in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, the singer-actor responded to the notice sent to him ahead of his Hyderabad concert directing him to avoid songs related to alcohol, drugs, and violence.
Diljit tweaked the words in his chartbusters “Lemonade” and “5 Taara” — which originally mention ‘daaru’ (alcohol) and ‘theka’ (liquor store) in their lyrics — after he received a notice from the Telangana government ahead of the Hyderabad concert of his “Dil-Luminati India Tour 2024 Tour” on Saturday.
Taking a swipe at the notice, the singer at his Sunday show told the Ahmedabad audience: “There’s some good news. I didn’t get any notice today. There’s more good news: I’ll not sing a single song on alcohol today either. Ask me why. Because Gujarat is a dry state.”
The singer said he was a teetotaler and was even willing to take a pledge to not make such songs but the governments of each state should declare themselves dry states.
“Let’s do something, let’s start a movement. If all states declare themselves dry states, I’ll stop singing songs on alcohol from the very next day… I will stop singing about alcohol, you shut the ‘thekas’ in the country… I take a pledge.
“Is this possible? It’s a big source of revenue. Everything was shut in Corona (pandemic), except the thekas. You can’t fool the youth,” he can be seen saying in a video shared on Diljit’s official Instagram page.
The 40-year-old also had a word of caution for his naysayers: “Don’t mess with me.” “I sing my songs and leave. Why are you messing with me? I have sung over dozens of devotional songs. In the last 10 days, I released two devotional songs but nobody is talking about them. Every person on TV channels is sitting and talking about ‘Patiala Peg’ (one of his songs).
“There are dozens of Bollywood songs on alcohol. I barely have two to four songs like these. I’ll not sing them today either. It’s very easy for me to tweak the songs because I’m a teetotaler. Bollywood artists endorse alcohol, Diljit Dosanjh doesn’t,” he added.
Diljit, also famous for Punjabi songs such as “G.O.A.T”, “Kinni Kinni”, “Hass Hass”, and “Born To Shine”, had another offer for authorities.
“Declare a dry day on the same day I have my concerts, I won’t sing any song on alcohol. I am not a new artist to whom you will say ‘You can’t sing this, you can’t sing that’ and I will say ‘Oh, what will I do?’ I will tweak the song and it will be as much fun. If Gujarat is a dry state, I am a fan of the state government. I openly support the Gujarat government,” he said.
“I want our holy city of Amritsar to also be declared a dry city,” he added.
While Diljit abstained from signing any alcohol-themed tracks in Ahmedabad, he modified the lyrics of “Lemonade” and “5 Taara” at his Hyderabad concert.
The “daaru” (alcohol) in “Lemonade” became ‘Coke’, whereas “theka” (alcohol store) in “5 Taara” was replaced by ‘hotel’.
The musician is on a 10-city tour as part of his “Dil-Luminati India Tour 2024 Tour”, which will conclude in Guwahati on December 29.