This article draws from present-day Punjabi music to understand the overarching and recurring theme of Jat masculinity. The article begins with the non-film Punjabi music industry and the reasons for its meteoric rise in recent years. The glorification of misogyny, caste-based violence, use of arms and ammunition, which are a mainstay in popular Punjabi music today, is framed as a manifestation of a caste-based identity. The article charts the emergence of Chamar pop and the role of caste in Punjab, especially cultural assertion and its roots in the state’s Dalit politics, particularly the Ad-dharmi movement. The Dalit resistance art and music movement which began years ago, and the sudden rise of Dalit singers like Ginni Mahi and Roop Lal Dhir have taken the modern Ambedkarite assertion of equal rights one step forward is considered the beginning of the reconfiguration of Punjab's sociopolitical milieu. While the Jat singers and their music get hailed, the Dalit singers are physically attacked, hounded, and threatened to speak out against caste oppression, suggesting that caste realities in Punjab are reflected in artistic expressions.
