Love Diljit Dosanjh's Ikk Kudi? Know The Original Writer Of The Poem & The 6 Versions Of the Song

‘Ikk Kudi’ is in fact based on a poem titled 'Ik kudi jida naam mohabbat' by Punjabi poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi.

‘Ikk Kudi’ is in fact based on a poem titled 'Ik kudi jida naam mohabbat' by Punjabi poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi.

Source : YouTube Snip

Diljit Dosanjh is known for quite many of his songs. While his diverse discograpy includes proper Punjabi party anthems to the more recent international collaborations that have made him a global icon, Dosanjh has been at it for quite a long time. For many Diljit fans, their recent favourites include a blend of contemporary music, some English lyrics or a music so catchy that the Punjabi lyrics make no difference. 

Diljit Dosanjh popular songs

Dosanjh has been selling out stadiums across the world and singing some of his popular tracks like ‘Naina’, ‘Lover’, ‘Kutthi’, ‘Kinni Kinni’ and ‘Ikk Kudi’, and many more. More recently, what caught our attention was the iconic Dosanjh track ‘Ik Kudi’ from the film ‘Udta Punjab’ which first brought his music to the many non-Punjabi listeners and the mainstream Bollywood industry.

While ‘Ikk Kudi’ was also sung by Shahid Mallya in the film, a cover version of the song has been sung by Diljit and Alia Bhatt in ‘Udta Punjab’.

The same version is also sung by Dosanjh in most of his concerts.

The story behind Ikk Kudi

‘Ikk Kudi’ is in fact based on a poem titled 'Ik kudi jida naam mohabbat' by Punjabi poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi. The poem's lyrics have been used in several folk Punjabi songs and as standalone songs for the longest time.

Interpreted in various ways, the song's lyrics have found a place at the heart of a cultural identity issue that the second-generation of Punjabis face in the West.

But first, who is Shiv Kumar Batalvi

Batalvi is one of the great Punjabi poets of the past and his poems have been sung and loved by Indians and Pakistanis for many generations now. The lyrics of his poems feature in qawwalis, ghazals and several pop songs as a mid-chorus. 

Born in Sialkot in 1936, Batalvi is considered one of the first modern Punjabi poets who wrote about existential themes and coincided those with the more popular motifs of poetry such as love, land and the seasons, as was a common practice for the poets from the Punjabi subcontinent of the time. 

In fact, like the modern-day singers today, Batlavi also sang his own poems and turned them into songs.

Take a look at Shiv Kumar Batalvi singing his own work 'Ikk Kudi Jida Naam...'

 

While there are several unrecorder versions of the same poem, here are some of the more popular versions that have turned 'Ikk Kudi' into a generation song.

6 different versions of Ikk Kudi

Rabbi Shergill

The rock guitarist from Delhi has also sung 'Ikk Kudi' in a version that a contemporary gloablised audience can enjoy.

 

Jagjit Singh Zirvi

Jagjit Singh recorded an album with Neelam Sahni of Batalvi's poems in the 80s. This ghazal-sort rendition of the poem 'Ikk Kudi' is quite opposed to Batalvi's intense version of it.

 

K. Deep

Another folksy and popular version of 'Ikk Kudi' is from K. Deep who sang the poem in all earnestness many years ago.

 

Shahid Mallya & Diljit Dosanjh

Abhishek Chaubey’s ‘Udta Punjab’ has two versions of ‘Ikk Kudi’ in the film. One is by the singer Shahid Mallya and the other is the more popular version of it; sung by Diljit Dosanjh and Alia Bhatt.

 

Mahendra Kapoor

Another classic rendition of the poem 'Ikk Kudi'.

 

Let us know which version of the song ‘Ikk Kudi’ you like best and why.