Punjabi singer Jasbir Jassi, who shot to fame in the ‘90s with his superhit track Dil Le Gai Kudi Gujarat Di, didn’t expect people to accept his new song, Tere Thumke. The song was launched earlier this month and Jasbir is happy with the reception it has got.

“We wanted to make a different song from the ones we hear these days. One with clean lyrics because Punjabi songs do get blamed now for promoting swearing, violence and vulgarity. We wanted to avoid that and make something good. It’s nice that people liked this song but I didn’t expect them to. Songs like this one are considered old-school. If a Punjabi song doesn’t talk about Gucci, Armani and Ferrari, it is considered old-school these days,” he said in a chat with Hindustan Times.

He says not wanting to sing vulgar songs is also the reason why he doesn’t work in Bollywood movies. “Bollywood isn’t my target at all. The problem with Bollywood is that earlier the lyrics used to lighter and these days it’s too much swearing and trash in the songs. So I have to say no to songs that do become hits later on but are essentially very dirty. So I feel that if I sang those songs, even I won’t be allowed to break bread at the dhabas in Punjab like a few other singers,” he said. Jasbir’s last Bollywood outing was with Patiala House’s Laung Da Lashkara. The song was picturised on Akshay Kumar and Anushka Sharma and was big hit.

Jasbir says producers in Bollywood think of music like a business but he knows the responsibility it brings. “Like Gurdas Mann, Harbhajan Mann or Hans Raj Hans, there are a lot of people who are working with this in mind. And it’s not like they are out of work. They have more work that all the new boys. It just doesn’t show as much because they aren’t on social media,” he said.

However, he hasn’t put Bollywood out of question just yet. “I’ll come back. I have something coming up. Also, this song has given me a lot of confidence. It has worked without any publicity or promotions. I also think it is my time now,” he added.

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First Published: Dec 24, 2018 16:21 IST