The Hindi movie Animal was released on 1 Dec. While most of the Indian print media has given the action movie with a father-son conflict a average or low ranking, in over a week and a half, the movie has earned over $85M. Arjun Vailly, a song from the movie, gathered a lot of attention partly because it depicts a fight sequence but also for its dhadi-vaar (heroic balladeering) music and lyrics. While the movie protagonist is named Arjun, a story started circulating that Arjun was the name of legendary Sikh fighter Hari Singh Nalwa’s son who was also a warrior. Characters are often inspired from history but why is this character called vailly? The term vailly means lewd, depraved, degenerate, and so on. Arjun Vailly otherwise has references in Panjabi folklore, including his help to Babbar Akalis and as an agitator during the Panjabi Suba movement. The stories in the media attribute the original song to Panjabi singer Kuldeep Manak. That is also false. The song was written by Hardev Dilgir, known by his pen-name Dev Tharike Wala, and sung by Surinder Shinda for the movie Putt Jattan De (1983). History professor Harjeshwar Pal Singh says, despite its banality, the political subtext of the movie is undeniable. The film is an allegory of a family comprising three brothers — a Hindu who leaves the village for the city, builds an industrial empire and then exhorts his Sikh brother from the village to become his sidekick. Then they fight the bad, polygamist, deranged third brother who has converted to Islam. Indeed, the movie is a tribute to the ideology of the current regime.
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