Courage Becomes Cruelty: An Appropriation of “Arjan Vailly” in ANIMAL

With a bloodthirsty protagonist and an army of brute Sikh men, Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s controversial hit Animal reduces the Punjabi folk song “Arjan Vailly”—a storied war cry against oppression—into a chorus of vile brutality. By Deepansh Duggal