ABSTRACT
In the Indian context, where the folk and folk traditions are still prevalent, current cultural iconographies have the power to rework and reinvent existing forms. The folk, whether in Delhi, Jalandhar or Toronto, was reinventing itself in the form of a happy dancer. In contrast, the troupe of women dancers accompanying him in the videos are dressed in modern clothes – pantsuits, halters, shorts and minis. The Panjabi woman is represented here as streetsmart, an energetic dancer, and more often than not, unfaithful in love. The hypertext of Mehndi's videos picturing the Sardar cavorting with assorted females repeated itself time and again, and with it, the viewers began to believe in its reality. The public imagination had already instituted the image of the Sardar as the soldier, one of the stock characters that are often appropriated as representations of a community.
