"Tunak Tunak Tun" Dance

About

"Tunak Tunak Tun" is a series of parody dance videos based on the Punjabi love song and music video created by Daler Mehndi.^[1] Because of its catchy tune and the amusing dance, the music video inspired numerous parodies, involving four cloned men dancing in an unusual style to a catchy Bhangra song. The phrase "Tunak Tunak Tun" doesn't actually mean anything but goes well with the beat.

Origin

Tunak Tunak Tun (ਤੁਨਕ ਤੁਨਕ ਤੁਨ) is a Bhangra Pop^[2] song released in 1998 by Punjabi musician Daler Mehndi. At the time, Indian music critics were skeptical of Mehndi's popularity, speculating that his main appeal was the women dancing in his music videos, like in "Ho Jayegi Balle Balle"^[3].

In response to criticisms of his previous music videos, Mehndi sought a drastically different style with "Tunak Tunak Tun" by featuring four clones of himself (representing the four natural elements) dancing and singing over various CGI backgrounds. Despite the lack of "hawt babes" dancing in the music video, the song was a success in the world of Bhangra Pop.

The first parody "Tunak Tunak Tun" music video was created by internet comedian Dan Gomiller^[4] and uploaded in 2001. According to the IMDB entry^[5], Gomiller's parody video recieved 17,000 hits a day at its peak:

Spread

On June 10th, 2006, YouTuber Jason Klamm uploaded a parody of the music video (shown below). Within 12 years, the video gained over 126,000 views and 200 comments.

Other dance parodies soon followed on YouTube, mostly of people doing the dance in real life. On December 2nd, 2006, Tunak Tunak Tun video was featured as part of a series on Phonetic Translations by YouTube artist Buffalax. The channel has since been deactivated.

In early 2007, the Tunak phenomenon was revived by online gaming fans for a short time, when YouTube user AmandaJ3162 uploaded a World of Warcraft (WOW) rendition of the Tunak dance, featuring avatars from the Draenei race, using animations from the Burning Crusade Expansion Pack:

Daler Mehndi Human Trafficking Conviction

On March 16th, 2018, the Financial Express^[7] reported that Mehendi was convicted by the Patiala Court for human trafficking in an immigration case stemming from 2003. Mehndi was sentenced to two-years in prison for sending various people to other countries, having been accused of dropping off multiple women in the United States. That day, the @TimesNow Twitter feed tweeted a news report about the conviction (shown below).

That day, Twitter published a Moments^[8] page titled "Indian singer Daler Mehndi convicted of human trafficking," collecting various reactions to the news on the social media platform.

Search Interest

External References