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Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous Is A Gratuitous Documentary On The Controversial Pop Star

If the documentary was a showreel, the maker should have been embarrassed to show it, but we are witnessing a major streamer and Academy Award recipient producer like Guneet Monga backing it.

Ishita+Sengupta

Dec 21, 2024

Promo poster for Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous.

FEW COMBINATIONS are as bad as Indian documentaries and Netflix. In the last couple of years, the streaming giant has routinely commissioned a host of template-driven non-fiction that include the aesthetics of reality TV and unravel with the purpose of milking tropes while fanning nostalgia. The Romantics outlined the legacy of Yash Chopra did it, Modern Masters: SS Rajamouli hyped up the myth of the filmmaker, and waiting in the curtains is The Roshans on the Roshan family. Technically, Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous, on the rise and fall and the rise of the pop star, is built with the same brick but the ambition is so stunted that even in unremarkable company, the Mozez Singh film manages to reach for the floor.

The signs are all there. The title — Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous — reads like a sentence one forgot to finish, audio clips from news channels, echoing the time when the singer was undergoing trouble in his life, are dubbed to a silly effect, and crucial moments like a fan breaking down on seeing Singh on the road, which if untampered could have been the centrepiece, are staged. If the documentary was a showreel, the maker should have been embarrassed to show it, but we are witnessing a major streamer and Academy Award recipient producer like Guneet Monga backing it.

Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous tracks the last few years when the singer underwent significant health challenges (he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2014) and obscurity only to rise back again. During the health crisis Singh went under the radar and in a business that thrives on vanity, he appeared bloated and faced criticism. All these only make him an intriguing subject for a documentary, more so for how publicly his journey has unfolded.

But the filmmaker remains puzzlingly passive to Singh. We frequently hear his voice from the other side of the camera but his curiosity is restricted to reiterating questions about the offensive lyrics in Singh's songs. Even those are whittled to vexed remarks: “You did write those songs!” Beyond that and sparse archival footage, the film showcases little intent to probe the person in the frame. Honey Singh’s interviews have been more revealing.

Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous unfolds as a reiteration of the known facts in Singh’s life – the heavy medication he is under, his dipping popularity, the allegations of domestic violence levelled against him by his wife – without once pausing to reflect on either of them. In fact, his family members (who feature as talking heads), and in extension, the film, sufficiently throw his ex-wife, Shalini Talwar under the bus. She managed his career for a while and undoubtedly contributed to his success. Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous remains silent about that, including only his sister’s revelation that Talwar insisted the singer keeps performing despite a mental health scare.

This treatment towards her encapsulates the general attitude of the documentary towards other people, mainly and categorically Singh. Instead of being incisive, the lens adapted by the Mozez Singh film feels more gratuitous in nature (there are several, unnecessary close-ups of Honey Singh) where it waits for people to break down. There is a moment when his sister recounts the phase of Singh’s ill-health and the camera pans towards his mother because she is weeping.

The real issue of Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous however, comprises its failure to earn the right of centring around Honey Singh. The film makes the singer and his achievements look generic. It touches upon his early 2010s success, successful foray into Bollywood and the quick dwindling. Observations from fans and Salman Khan (who somehow features) are as basic as “the most special thing about Honey Singh is he is Yo Yo Honey Singh” or “Whether he was gone or came back, he was always there.” At a time when Punjab is burgeoning with singers and each has their own journey, Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous does nothing to justify its existence.

Ironically, the only one trying to break out of mediocrity is Singh. He might not be the most eloquent person but he expresses a willingness to share which gets marred by the film’s refusal to listen. There is a point where his face falls on seeing his new songs not doing well. It could have amounted to something but the camera refuses to show his face, upholding the filmmaker’s shortcomings and not his.

Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous is currently streaming on Netflix.