For those curious about the blondie in "Laga Reh"

One of the questions raised in class was the purpose of the ‘blondie’ in the song “Laga Reh” and on looking closely at the video, one realizes that her presence in some of the scenes convey a greater meaning. The first scene where we see her is on stage in a large public space and the group is singing in front of a massive crowd. The singers are then forced to leave the stage as the politician has to come and address the masses. The second time we see her is in the bus during the lyrics “Buzurgon ney mujh sey poocha, “Mulk kaisey yeh chaley ga? She is furiously playing her drums in a much smaller space with a much smaller and less enthusiastic audience. The last time we see her is on an empty road that held demonstrations and riots of the masses. The place is in tatters and there is debris on the road with absolutely no audience.

The point of charting her progression in the story is to show the restriction on the creative expression created by the situations in the country. Initially, the politician drives the singers away from stage to use it for his own purpose; this leads to a movement from the stage to the bus. Later, due to unfavourable law and order situations in the country, these artists are confined to a single empty road. We see the lead singer running away from the scene as soon as he sees the suited foreigner showing again that the threat of the foreigner and his power put a complete stop to the creative expression of the artists. These are all external agents that affect the singer, his band members and the space allowed to them to express themselves. Curtailing their freedom is evident not only through the dwindling space allowed to them but also through the reduction in the audience they have. Thus, the while the song critiques some pressing issues of society, it visually points out the limitations faced by singers or creative artists in pursuing their expression.