Inside the Up and Down World of Yo Yo Honey Singh

He plays at weddings and in tractors. He moved the cultural gravity of the Indian pop scene. He was an international villager with brown rang much before brown munde became fashionable.

And then poof, he vanished from the landscape, leaving a blaze of controversy and mystery.

Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous not only answers these questions but does so with humanity and authenticity. Mozez Singh’s camera is as kind and understanding as he is. It isn’t easy making a documentary on a self destructing phenomenon but Singh asks the right questions, with the right sensibility.

And he chronicles a fascinating story of a boy who rose from a house without windows in Karampura, West Delhi, to becoming one of the biggest cultural influences of 21st century India. Of a boy who dreamt of becoming a star, of making the world dance to his music, and of making the biggest stars in the country groove to his beats.

And then it all collapses. Honey Singh descends into a spiral of drugs, drinks and anxieties. His parents are witness to his rise and his ascent and while their voices are muted but concerned, it is his sister who emerges as the real rock of the family, worrying about Honey Singh’s mental health, understanding the nature of his illness, and grappling with the treatment.

Honey Singh is raw, brave, and unrelenting about his own weaknesses and vulnerabilities, often breaking down in contrition and in confusion. Usually documentaries such as these have redemption arc, but here is the full circle of life, from nothing to nothing. “Life is a lie,” he says, “death is the truth.”

Honey Singh knows he can no longer be the success he once was, but he won’t give up. “If your mind gets f*****, where will you get another,” he says.

Indeed, but as his sister says Honey Singh is a fighter, with his family firmly in his corner.

Mozez SIngh has done more for Honey Singh than his music.

Bravo.

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