Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous
Introduction
Right from the time that I have watched the Nayanthara documentary on Netflix, there is a mental barrier with which I approach documentaries which related to a famous personality. I have come to peace with the fact that these are only PR strategic stunts veiled as documentaries, which are presented with an intention to either white-wash the image of a person or simply keep the artist in the limelight. I mean think about it – if you can pass off an entire marriage album in the name of a documentary then you can pretty much pull off a heist straight from the Mission Impossible series. And so I must admit that I wasn’t too kicked about Netflix’s new documentary on Yo Yo Honey Singh titled ‘Yo Yo Honey Singh : Famous’ either. Deep down, I was immensely skeptical of what the documentary would shape up to be. Yet, it is the personality of the artist here that kept the flag of hope flying within me. If it was anything to go by – the recent interview of Yo Yo Honey Singh with Lallantop was a goldmine in itself that was successful in highlighting the different facets of the artist which made for an intriguing watch. And I was kind of hoping to be intriguied all over again through this Netflix documentary.
The Good
Yo Yo Honey Singh : Famous is thankfully not a fluffy and frothy watch like the Nayanthara documentary which was simply atrocious. There is a definitely structure to it of highlighting the various phases in the life of breakthrough rap artist – Yo Yo Honey Singh-aaa, who was destined to be huge with his catchy numbers and controversial lyrics, both of which did catch the fancy of fans across demographics. In a scene, you him interacting with a female fan of his, who is completely awe-struck to the point of being in tears. After a friendly encounter, you can see the fangirl in her absolutely swooned by his charm, a thing that told you about the immense popularity of the artist. In a separate scene, you find Yo Yo Honey Singh interacting with street kids, who politely ask him on whether he is on a diet given that he has lost weight following his bout of depression. The drastic different between the age demographic and economic status of these two fan-interactions is enough to gauge the popularity of the artist whose songs we still sway to even today. So in a way, the celebratory mode of the series is on point for most parts of the runtime while briefly highlighting the human side of the artist, and how self-aware he is to criticism.
The Not So Good
One of the biggest gripes that I had with this documentary was its all too familiar template, which was more concerned in just checking the boxes as opposed to getting any deeper with any of the issues that the documentary touched upon. So while the chapter of Honey Singh’s tryst with fame and success was passable, I wished to know more about his journey on what was his actual path to success. We all are aware of his mercurial success in Bollywood having grooved to so many of his songs – but, what was the story behind the making of those songs. For instance, Yo Yo had himself admitted that he hated the lyrics of most of his popular numbers in the Lallantop Interview, a claim that could so easily have been explored here.
Another huge drawback for me is the phase highlighting his decline – the POV oddly shifts to that of his family, as opposed to getting into his psyche of what caused the voices in his head to erupt. Was it the drugs or the work-load, or simply the stress of wanting to consume every opportunity that came his way? That said, his entire chapter on drugs and alcohol that he himself admitted to in his Lallantop interview, was up in flames here and it remained untouched! This, also gave me an impression that the documentary wasn’t entirely true to its subject matter, often aspiring to highlight most of the artist’s achievements and seldom his downfall. Remember the brilliant Netflix show Mr McMahon and how it dared to expose the dark side of the WWE? This barely scratches the surface while being deliberately restricted to a pleasant watch through and through, with the glitzy cuts being interspersed with the music.
My Take
One of the reasons why a documentary like Angry Young Men worked for me, despite it mostly being a legendary celebration of Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan was because of its format that allowed the makers to pack in plenty of details from their lives. One of the reasons why Yo Yo Honey Singh : Famous doesn’t exactly succeed (in my books) is because of the restricted runtime of the film. Standing at just 80 minutes, the source material was far too vast for it to be crammed in this restricted runtime. As a result, most events in the life of the artist are mainly passed off as chapters, which are strictly surface level and quite fragmented. The format of the film never fully allows it to dwell deeper into any of the important issues related to mental-health which would have probably a rounded perspective. For similar reasons, the proceedings seem rushed and therefore, I as a viewer wasn’t fully invested in the drama that had potential yet flattered to deceive.
Conclusion
Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous is a surface-level account on the life of the mercurial artist packaged in an all but familar template that results in a fragmented and rushed watch despite having a great degree of potential with its source material. Available on Netflix.
