ABSTRACT
In Dangerous Crossroads, George Lipsitz claims a celebrity status for Apache Indian in India on the basis of the British Asian star's media-hyped meetings with the then President of India and the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's wife Sonia in 1993. But Bhangra, to the rest of India, signifies the three Ms – Malkit, Mann and Mehndi following in the line of the big M, Manaksaab or Kuldip Manak, the golden voice of All India Radio in the 1960s and '70s. The myth of authenticity dominates discussions of Bhangra in spite of glaring evidence of hybridizations in the present as well as in the past. Pammi Bai is particularly offended by Bhangra's being confused with song or geet because he views it primarily as a dance with a particular beat and structured, stylized movements performed in a certain manner.
