I know, I know — there are numerous absurd things happening here. How Boston Bhangra got involved, for one thing, is a puzzle. The “Poonjabi Peace Offering” sounds, to my ear, like it’s been delivered in Hindi. Indeed, The Great Khali is ethnically not Punjabi at all, I don’t think. (His real name is Dalip Singh Rana.)
But if you’re worried about those minor inaccuracies, you’re really REALLY missing the point of the eight glorious minutes of “entertainment” contained herein.
can’t believe Boston Bhangra sold out like that.
instead of a dog and pony show, its a bakri and murga show…
I can’t believe I used to watch WWF/E when I was a kid… it’s…outrageously bad.
I used to watch it too. Some one asked is this ratings week. I think this post confirms it.
You all only notice the entertaining posts. We had two posts on desi political candidates and one on campaign finance. Would we bore you with such material during ratings week?
I used to be able to find more humor in this sort of thing, but these days I just think it’s plain terrible.
That was painful.
More on Dalip here.
Although it’s cool we have a desi brother in this arena, but it’s too bad it took gigantism/acromegaly to do it. This guy’s health is going to gradually go down the tubes if he’s not getting the right medical attention.
It says he was formerly a member of the Punjab Police, and he’s married to someone named Harminder Kaur. Don’t know why he gave his little spiel in Hindi though…maybe Punjabi is too rustic. Speaks pretty good Hindi I must say.
surely, an offbeat post. But I would really like the 8 min of my life, back 🙂
traditionally, it would have been more likely to have khali throw a trecherous sucker punch after making a peace offering. Hindoos and treachery go together like gandhi and goats milk so you will never be thirsty.
12 · noblekinsman said
Please Explain?
13 · Samir said
Guys, I think it was all a show! They’re only fooling American audiences who believe everything they see on TV. I mean, did anyone notice the size of that goat? It looked like a well fed, hairy, pig. Any intelligent person would know that there is no way that it can be an Indian goat.
I know, I know — there are numerous absurd things happening here. How Boston Bhangra got involved, for one thing, is a puzzle. The “Poonjabi Peace Offering†sounds, to my ear, like it’s been delivered in Hindi. Indeed, The Great Khali is ethnically not Punjabi at all, I don’t think. (His real name is Dalip Singh Rana.)
Another case of someone from UP pretending to be Punjabi, eh? This video was insulting, to tell you the truth, to Indians.
Guys,
I thought that this video was quite insulting and borderline embarrassing. Sure, I thought that the jet-black Ganges water was funny. I cringed at the juxtaposition of the very proud Indians with their beautiful culture and traditions and the boorish white-Americans in the audience. I would have felt awful if they (the crowd) yelled racist epithets at the Indian entourage.
I think that Dalip Singh is too good for the WWE, and these Indian ‘entertainers’ are totally being disrespectful to all elements of Indian culture: Belittling Gandhi, having funny looking people present funny little gifts, Indian’s hyperextension to please ghoris, etc. Really soon, Indians will make fun of more elements of India. What if they staged harmful anti-Indian things – like one wrestler forcing Khali beef?
Can someone please play this over and over again, and check what The Great K. says (in Hindi) when he presents Big Show with the “Scotch”? The interpreter made it Scotch, but it did sound terribly like The Great Khali said “Mahatma Gandhi’s urine” when he offered the “Scotch”!
17 · boston_mahesh said
My sentiments exactly. I could just watch the first few seconds before turning away in disgust. Commercialising “Poonjabi” culture for the lowest common denominator of the American population. I hate how Punjabi dance music has come to symbolise India in the West. The most base, the most easily packaged, pseudo-westernised crap is being peddled as “Indian Culture”, makes me ashamed to belong to the same ethnic group as these people.
I like Bhangra Knights though..
Yeah I suppose only classical arts and dances which almost no one can perform, have no mass appeal, and have no element of ‘fun’ in them, should represent us instead.
treacherous hindoos are a stock character in british and american plays and movies going back to nineteenth century.
“Punjabi Peace Offering”, “Ridiculous stuff about Mahatma Gandhi”, and “speaking Hindi instead of Punjabi” He got what he deserved? Go Big Show!
For the (astonishing) full back-story, see Tehelka’s article on Khali
Some of you people are making a big deal about nothing. Vince McMahon is someone who offends everyone, there is no one he will not offend to get rating. And that we live in such a PC world, it good to have someone outthere like Vince McMahon.
And about 5 million people watch this program every week.
A good thing about Dalip-ji, is that he’s a pious and noble man. He is very god-fearing from my readings. He wanted to go to Iraq with other American WWE wrestlers, but he was turned down, and then he prayed to an Indian flag for “better luck next time.”
Then I was reading of how he lives a very simple life in the USA these days, in Atlanta, GA, I believe. He spoke about how his life is very modest.
Finally, he is always looking for unemployed destitutes close by his home to help feed them. I thought that this was simply FAR MORE AMAZING THAN HIS 7’2″ SIZE.
Amardeep said :
That’s right. The WWE is the theater of the absurd. The audience just needs some freak to jeer at.
During the Iran hostage crisis, the “Iron Sheikh”, a swarthy middle-easterner, was routinely ridiculed.
During the 9/11 days the “Un-Americans” a motley group of wrestlers of foreign nationalities were jeered.
Now its the “Great Khali’s” turn.
Hope he rebounds and kicks the Big Show’s Big Ass.
When I was in India in 2007 there was a flap about his continuing to draw his Punjab Police salary while he away wrestling full-time.
Wow. WOW!!! I am now dumber for having watched that …
24 · Suki Dillon said
That’s completely untrue. He certainly does not offend everyone. The answer to unnecessary political correctness isn’t the staging of racist spectacles in front of a mostly white, conservative, ignorant audience (look up statistics for the WWE’s audience demographics).
Khali!!! pummel him Man!! He went down like a shak of aloo!! 😉
isn’t the staging of racist spectacles in front of a mostly white, conservative, ignorant audience (look up statistics for the WWE’s audience demographics).
The WWE audience is one of the most diverse of any shows on TV. There friday smackdown show is one of the most popular english programs for hispanic audience. Also they get a very high audience from Afro-Americans. There audience is not just all unbred hicks.
I have friends who own WWE Stock.
24 · Suki Dillon said
As Akshay alludes to above, for some of that 5 million this episode will be they’re only touchstone of what punjabi culture is about. While I realize that most people watching WWE will realize it is meant to be outlandish and cartoonish, some will attach this warped perception of punjabiat as reality. Think back to Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom, where idiots in the hood would ask “do you really eat monkey brains”. (BTW, a pretty good flick at the time – yes, I’m easy when it comes to movies). Truthfully, there are people in NYC today who don’t know what or who Punjab or Punjabi means. For them, we all look the same…brown is brown. Not saying WWE has any responsibility to change that perception (since its simply entertainment) but it surely shouldn’t create new stereotypes.
To be clear, I don’t have an issue with Khali per se, I think the man is simply doing his job at playing a character. (Besides I don’t want to piss off the big fella) It’s also very nice to hear that he seems to be a real gentle giant. I do take issue with the introduction of so many cultural elements that make it seem quasi real/legit. The bhangra dancers with the pagadi and women in traditional garb, the pandits acting well… like pandits made it feel less cartoonish and more of a mock at traditional garb and custom. If it were just Khali out there doing his thing without the entire entourage, I’d be less annoyed with it. I might even watch to root for him.
It’s been a while since I saw WWE, some episodes with the Rock and farther back I was (still am) a fan of the Hulk. “Whatcha gonna do when Hulkamania runs wild on you.” That I’d watch again. I’m hoping the Hulk would not approve.
P.S.: Isn’t this just another reason to hate Boston, just saying….
During the 9/11 days the “Un-Americans” a motley group of wrestlers of foreign nationalities were jeered.
Yeah those were 3 white Canadian and one white Britsh wrestler.
Truthfully, there are people in NYC today who don’t know what or who Punjab or Punjabi means. For them, we all look the same…brown is brown
What % of the United States population do punjabi makes. 0.167 is kinda of low.
SMers should be aware that there was a huge controversy on Facebook wherein Suki Dillon was puportedly exposed as a white guy. The commenters had additional pictures of the person that was being used as Suki’s picture, and claimed that they knew him, the pictures were stolen, and that he was actually someone else. Suki, I promise you I am not hating, and the last thing I want to do is to smear someone legit, but this was much discussed in a Vancouver desi community and its out there. If you want to respond to this, please do.
Also, all of these comments and no one has said it: Ranas are as down home, out in the kaith, Delhi university, pag wearing, heart of the Five Rivers Punjabi as you can get. Trust me, I know several.
The WWF has always made non–red-necks look bad e.g. Kamala, Razor Ramon, Yokozuna, even Tatanka . I think WWF is where the USA-USA chants started.
I really surprised though, 35 posts, and not one mention of Scythians! 😉
I know some of the Boston Bhangra dancers who performed in the WWE ring. As you all probably know, the entire show is scripted and completely fake. That evening’s script was not even complete until hours before taping, and so when Boston Bhangra was asked to participate in the event they were simply told that they would be dancing. No context was given about a peace offering, goat, chicken, etc.
Again, the show is made for entertainment purposes and should not be taken seriously. The participants certainly meant no disrespect to their own culture. I would hope that the Indian community at large is intelligent enough not to believe everything they see on TV–especially on a program like WWE Smackdown.
WHOA…supposedly this is Khali’s wife…
It hasn’t. That stupid crap known generically as “Bollywood” has. Hardly anyone in the West outside of a few who listen to urban music from the UK even know what ‘Punjabi dance music’ is.
To be honest, the worst part of it all was the stupid faux middle eastern music that they were dancing to. A bunch of dhol players would have sounded great. As for the rest of it, well, its just a big cartoon. I wish they’d make Khali a good guy though.
Is it just me, or does the “Great Khali” bear a fleeting resemblance to the guy who played the villain known as “Jaws” in the old James Bond movies.
You know the ones which had Roger Moore as Bond.
38 · Amitabh said
That’s unfortunate, I was certain had found the perfect match for the Great Khali.
Amardeep’s assessment that Dalip Singh Rana is likely not “ethnically Punjabi” is over simplistic. Himalchal Pradesh, like Haryana, used to be part of Punjab until it was made into its own state sometime after independence. (Check the Haryana and Himalchal Pradesh on wikipedia.) Thus, the ethnic, cultural, and religious makeup is still very similar to (what remains of) Punjab. Personally, I think if you come from anywhere in pre-Partition Punjab, you’re a Punjabi if you wanna be!
That was so absurd it was ridiculously funny! I mean, random Boston Bhangra? A freaking pandit-ji? The brown river water? The goat? The fact that Khali was obviously blinking at the end? I laughed my head off.