The Meteoric Rise Of Guru Randhawa

How a singer from Gurdaspur, Punjab went on to rule Bollywood charts and clinch global collabs

- Nirmika Singh and Jessica Xalxo

Blame it on the overwhelming Punjabization of desi pop culture in the recent past or the addictive nature of his tunes, Guru Randhawa is not losing his envious spot on the playlist India is listening to on loop. If you’ve missed him on the charts, you’ve heard him on the radio. His Bollywood debut “Suit Suit” (originally his single “Suit” with Sri Lankan-British artist Arjun) from the 2017 film Hindi Medium was somewhat of a sensation, cementing Randhawa as a fixture in the Hindi film industry, a hit that was quickly followed up with another catchy number, “Ban Ja Rani” (originally his 2016 track “Tu Meri Rani” with rapper Haji Springer) from Tumhari Sulu, later that year. Since then, the industry has come to love Randhawa and even though his rise seems to have occurred overnight, the Punjabi artist has been a name in the making for about eight years.

From the black leather jacket to the slick-hair and the baller cars, Randhawa’s pop identity drips with what might be called ‘desi swag’ — a characteristic quality made famous by artists of the regional Punjabi milieu. A look at his music videos will have you believing the guy was born to entertain — except that’s not quite how he started out. Randhawa was a one-man band in his hometown Gurdaspur, Punjab and New Delhi where he played small shows and participated in competitions, honing his skills as he tried to find a break while completing his MBA at the Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM). He first found the spotlight in 2012 when a director friend introduced him to British singer-songwriter Arjun. Randhawa was the featured artist on Arjun’s R&B track “Same Girl,” also starring in the accompanying music video. They would later collaborate on “Suit.”