Skip to content
 
Search

Latest Stories

Toronto university offers course on Diljit Dosanjh

Toronto Metropolitan University’s new class will analyse his cultural influence, music career and role in shaping diasporic identity.

Diljit Dosanjh

Canadian university launches course on Diljit Dosanjh highlighting his global cultural influence

Getty Images
Pooja Pillai
By Pooja PillaiJun 24, 2025
Pooja Pillai
Pooja was born in Kochi and raised on a mix of newspapers, pop culture, and too many questions. She studied Communicative English and Journalism before earning her Master’s in Journalism from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, and began her career interning at The Times of India and Channel I'M — where she later became a news anchor, scripting and presenting her own stories. Between deadlines, she’s worked across digital media platforms, covering politics, gender, pop culture, cinema, and everything in between. She has interviewed actors, creators, and changemakers, and occasionally edits her own video content — thanks to being certified in Photoshop and InDesign. In 2025, she joined the Asian Media Group in her first “official” newsroom gig, where she now covers entertainment, lifestyle, and the layered realities of South Asian identity. She believes storytelling should feel personal — even when it’s public — and likes to write not to please, but to provoke, question, and occasionally stir the pot.
See Full Bio
Follow:

Quick highlights

  • Toronto Metropolitan University will launch a course on Diljit Dosanjh in 2026.
  • The class will examine his influence on global music, diaspora, and Punjabi culture.
  • The announcement was made during the Billboard Summit at NXNE in Toronto.
  • The course will be part of TMU’s Creative School curriculum.

Diljit Dosanjh's rise from Punjab’s music scene to global stages like Coachella is now being studied in classrooms. Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) has confirmed it will offer a course on the singer-actor’s cultural and diasporic impact, starting in late 2026, marking a first-of-its-kind academic recognition for a Punjabi artist in Canada.

  Diljit's Instagram storyInstagram screengrab/ diljitdosanjh


Course on Diljit Dosanjh to explore Punjabi music’s global rise

The course, announced at the Billboard Summit in Toronto, will be run by TMU’s Creative School. According to the university, it will explore how Dosanjh’s work intersects with identity, entrepreneurship, and cultural influence across diasporic communities. Dr Charlie Wall-Andrews, who is leading the academic initiative, described Diljit as an ideal subject to study how regional music scenes influence global pop culture.

“This course goes beyond music. It’s about cultural authenticity, migration stories, and how regional sounds are driving creative economies,” Wall-Andrews said in a statement.

The university is positioning the class not just as a tribute, but as a serious academic look at how South Asian artists are shaping mainstream narratives.

  Diljit Dosanjh spotted at Coachella where he made history as a Punjabi headlinerGetty Images


Industry leaders say it’s long overdue

Sonali Singh, CEO of Ripple Effects and part of Dosanjh’s team, said the course reflects a deeper understanding of Diljit’s contributions. “His journey speaks to cultural pride and global representation, not just celebrity,” she said.

Backing the course, Billboard Canada President Mo Ghoneim added, “We’ve covered Diljit’s global milestones, from charting on Billboard to Coachella and the Met Gala. It’s only fitting that his story becomes part of academic discourse.”

  Fans cheer as Diljit takes the stage at an eventGetty Images


While the announcement comes amid online debate around Dosanjh’s casting choices in Sardaar Ji 3, TMU’s initiative seems focused on legacy rather than controversy. Application details will go live on the university’s website closer to the course start in 2026.

punjabi musicsouth asian diasporatoronto metropolitan universitybollywooddiljit dosanjh

Related News

Navratri festival in Wembley
UK

Navratri festival in Wembley faces objections

Priyanka Chopra
Entertainment

Priyanka Chopra shuts down criticism after choosing hot dog over vada pav in viral video

Bianca Censori
Entertainment

Bianca Censori poses nearly nude in photos taken by Kanye West raising fresh questions about control

SBI UK cuts mortgage rates
Business

SBI UK cuts mortgage rates

More For You

HYBE Cine Fest 2025
HYBE Cine Fest 2025: How HYBE Cine Fest 2025 is India’s K-pop soft launch
Instagram/pvrpictures

HYBE Cine Fest 2025: BTS, TXT, and SEVENTEEN light up screens; here’s what it really means

You step into your local PVR today. The smell of popcorn hits you, but instead of previews for the latest Bollywood hit, the lobby is a sea of ARMY Bombs and CARAT Bong light sticks. Fans in TXT tees are swapping photocards. Someone’s already belting out a LE SSERAFIM chorus into a mic at the pop-up Noraebang station. Inside Screen 3? It isn’t a film, but a full-blown K-pop concert. Thousands of voices scream every word of BTS’s Dynamite, and tears well up during Jungkook’s solo. But this isn’t Seoul. It’s Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru, all this weekend. And HYBE? They’re taking notes, big ones!

What is Hybe Cine fest?

HYBE Cine Fest 2025 is a three-day cinema event (from 10 to 12 July) that brings some of the biggest K-pop concert experiences to the big screen across India. Organised by South Korean entertainment giant HYBE in partnership with PVR INOX and Trafalgar Releasing, the fest features full-length concert films from BTS, SEVENTEEN, TXT, ENHYPEN, ILLIT, and Katseye. Expect stadium-level production with cinematic visuals, surround sound, and collective fan chants, everything fans love about a K-pop concert, recreated inside a cinema.

Keep ReadingShow less
Cierra Ortega

Cierra Ortega addresses her Love Island USA exit in a TikTok video

Instagram/cierra.ortega

Cierra Ortega apologises after Love Island USA exit over resurfaced racist post

Highlights

  • Cierra Ortega has exited Love Island USA after a past social media post using a slur resurfaced.
  • The 25-year-old content creator said she “had no idea” the word was a racial slur.
  • Ortega apologised to the Asian community and said she accepts being removed from the show.
  • She revealed her family has been threatened and immigration authorities were called on them.

Cierra Ortega, a contestant on this season of Love Island USA, has publicly apologised after an old social media post containing a racial slur resurfaced, prompting her sudden exit from the popular reality series.

The 25-year-old Los Angeles-based content creator addressed the controversy in a video, expressing regret for using a derogatory term towards Asian people in a post made last year. Ortega, who is of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent, said she was unaware of the word’s offensive meaning at the time but took full responsibility.

Keep ReadingShow less
Rashmika Mandanna joins Allu Arjun

Rashmika Mandanna teams up with Allu Arjun again in Atlee’s next

Getty Images/Youtube Screengrab/Sun Pictures

Rashmika Mandanna joins Allu Arjun and Deepika Padukone in Atlee's sci-fi spectacle 'AA22xA6'

Highlights:

 
     
  • Rashmika Mandanna to star opposite Allu Arjun in Atlee’s big-budget sci-fi project AA22xA6.
    •  
  • The film already features Deepika Padukone, Janhvi Kapoor, and Mrunal Thakur.
    •  
  • Rashmika has completed a look test and body scan in Los Angeles.
    •  
  • Film to release in multiple languages by late 2026 or early 2027.
    •  
 

Rashmika Mandanna is officially part of director Atlee’s highly ambitious sci-fi feature, tentatively titled AA22xA6. With Allu Arjun headlining the project, the casting of Rashmika not only reunites the Pushpa duo but also strengthens what is being called one of the biggest star ensembles in Indian cinema today. The Sun Pictures production already boasts names like Deepika Padukone, Janhvi Kapoor, and Mrunal Thakur, and now Rashmika’s addition has significantly heightened the buzz.

 Allu Arjun teams up with Atlee for 376 million sci-fi  Director Atlee and Allu Arjun brainstorm futuristic concepts with top Hollywood VFX studios in LA  Youtube Screengrab  

Keep ReadingShow less
Kajol

Kajol says star kids face harsher pressure as Ibrahim Ali Khan gears up for Sarzameen

Getty Images

Kajol defends Ibrahim Ali Khan amid trolling, says star kids today face a do or die reality

Highlights:

  • Kajol says today’s star kids face intense pressure to succeed immediately.
  • She compares their experience to her own, where she had time and space to evolve.
  • The actor is starring as Ibrahim Ali Khan’s mother in the upcoming film Sarzameen.
  • Kajol stresses the importance of reinvention and praises new actors for adapting beyond films.

Kajol believes the new generation of star kids in Bollywood are under far more pressure than actors from her era. The actress, who will soon be seen in Sarzameen alongside debutant Ibrahim Ali Khan, said young actors today are expected to prove themselves instantly, and harsh judgement follows if they don’t.

 Kajol  Kajol discusses star kids and the changing rules of BollywoodGetty Images

Keep ReadingShow less
Cardi B wears blooming 3D flowers

Cardi B continues her bold fashion streak with floral runway glamour

Instagram/rahulmishra_7

Cardi B stuns in a 3D floral Rahul Mishra gown at Paris Couture Week

Highlights:

  • Cardi B wore a ruby-red custom Rahul Mishra gown with sculptural 3D flowers at Paris Couture Week.
  • The outfit followed her earlier dramatic appearance at Schiaparelli in a fringe dress with a live crow.
  • She’s currently working on her debut album Am I the Drama? and a beauty venture with Revolve.
  • The look featured diamond accessories, a sculpted bun, and smoky makeup to match the theatrical dress.

Cardi B took her fashion game to new heights in Paris, stepping out in a dramatic Rahul Mishra creation that fused red carpet glamour with runway sculpture. The rapper’s custom-made gown, featuring 3D blooming flowers and a shimmering ruby base, was a highlight at Paris Haute Couture Week, making it one of her most talked-about looks this season.

 Cardi B wears blooming 3D flowers Cardi B's red gown features 3D sculpted flowers and intricate embroideryInstagram/rahulmishra_7

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2025 Garavi Gujarat Publications Ltd & Asian Media Group USA Inc