Dhurandhar’s ‘Jogi’ Still Carries Muhammad Sadiq and Ranjit Kaur’s Folk Story

A year after Dhurandhar brought “Jogi” into its title-track campaign, the song’s most compelling detail is still its long route into the film: Muhammad Sadiq and Ranjit Kaur’s Punjabi folk duet had already travelled through village stages, cassette culture and British Asian club life before it reached a new screen generation.

The makers unveiled Dhurandhar’s title track on October 16, 2025. Cinema Express described it as a modern rendition of Na Dil De Pardesi Nu (Jogi), crediting the original recording to Mohd. Sadiq and Ranjit Kaur, with music by Charanjit Ahuja and lyrics by Babu Singh Maan. Shashwat Sachdev composed the new version, which also featured a rap by Hanumankind.

A song made for everyday Punjab

Sadiq’s own account gives the older recording its scale. In a 2025 interview with The Indian Express, he recalled recording the song with Kaur under an HMV contract during the turbulent 1980s. It spread through village akhadas, weddings, trucks and tractors: the informal circuit in which a folk number could become part of daily life long before streaming playlists became a measure of reach.

That history matters because “Jogi” was never simply a film hook waiting to be rediscovered. Its imagery draws on familiar Punjabi folk figures including Heer, Sassi and Sohni, while its direct melodic pull allowed it to move easily between performance settings. Sadiq said the music he made was shaped by village listeners rather than an urban audience; the song’s later reach shows how far that foundation travelled.

The diaspora chapter changed the setting

The Indian Express also traced a major later turn to Panjabi MC, who revived the song in the 2000s. The track’s bright tumbi-led phrase became part of the British Asian underground and its daytime club culture, giving a new generation a different place to encounter a familiar Punjabi refrain.

That diaspora chapter helps explain the durability of the Dhurandhar reworking. The newer version joins Sadiq and Kaur’s folk inheritance to contemporary voices including Jasmine Sandlas and Hanumankind. It does not replace the earlier versions; it adds another setting to a song that had already crossed formats, audiences and decades.

Sadiq also raised concerns in his interview about recognition and royalty for folk artistes whose work is repurposed. Those are his reported views, but they sharpen the point of marking the anniversary: proper acknowledgement is part of listening to an old song’s new life. A year after Dhurandhar’s title-track unveiling, “Jogi” remains a reminder that Punjabi popular music often arrives at cinema carrying a much older cultural memory.

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