Hard Kaur
Taran Kaur Dhillon, known by her stage name Hard Kaur, is a British-Indian rapper and hip hop singer as well as playback singer and actress in the Bollywood industry.
Early life
Hard Kaur was born in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India on 29 July 1979 as Taran Kaur Dhillon into a Punjabi Jatt Sikh family of the Dhillon clan. She was raised in Kanpur, where her mother ran a small beauty parlour in the house. Her father was killed by a mob during 1984 anti-Sikh violence. Her paternal grandparents asked her mother to leave their house and wanted to keep her brother with them. Subsequently she, her brother and her mother moved to Hoshiarpur, Punjab, India to her maternal grandparents house, where they stayed for the next couple of years.In 1991, her mother remarried a British citizen and her family moved to Birmingham, England, where her mother started working and studying to eventually open a beauty salon, in Smethwick. Meanwhile, Hard Kaur did her schooling as an Indian immigrant in the UK. After developing interest in hip-hop she started her music career as a rapper.
Career
She recorded the song "Ek Glassy" and was top for the UK then in 2007 rapped for Sriram Raghavan's movie Johnny Gaddaar's song "Paisa Phek." Since then she has sung in movies like Ugly Aur Pagli, Singh Is Kinng, Kismat Konnection, Bachna Ae Haseeno, Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, and Prince.Kaur performed at Live Earth India, 2008.
Her first solo album Supawoman was released in 2007.
In 2008, Hard Kaur was nominated for two awards at the UK Asian Music Awards: "Best Urban Act" and "Best Female Act". She won "Best Female Act".
In October 2012, Hard Kaur released her second music album titled Party Loud All Year: P.L.A.Y. The album, produced in collaboration with Sony music, featured ten songs, all of which were written and composed by her. The most successful song of the album was Mujhe Peeney do.
In 2013, she collaborated with composer Ram Sampath and Rajasthani folk singer Bhanvari Devi for Coke Studio India. In the song Katey or Kathe – Bhanvari Devi's part is a Rajasthani folk song which is dedicated to Lord Krishna and Rap by Hard Kaur – written by herself in which she express her personal life journey. At the time of elections, she composed a song "Karle Tu Voting" to spread awareness about voting. Hard Kaur composed a song for FIFA World Cup named "Goal Mar Goal Mar". The song aptly describes fan frenzy and is sung in Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali & South language too. She has also written the lyrics for the song. She also collaborated with the American hip hop group D12 in the same year on the track "Desi Dance".
Controversial Comments
Hard Kaur is originally from Kanpur, India; where she was born and raised and currently lives in the UK, in Birmingham, England as an Indian national and citizen and has expressed her support for the Sikh-separatist Khalistan movement on multiple occasions in videos, while criticizing the current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the current Indian Home Minister Amit Shah, their supporters and followers, the Indian government, Hindu nationalists, the BJP party and the RSS.In June 2019, a First Information Report was lodged against her for comments about Yogi Adityanath and Mohan Bhagwat. In August 2019, her Twitter account was suspended after she posted a video abusing Amit Shah and Narendra Modi with Khalistan Supporters.
Kaur released a song and music video in 2019 after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India by the Government of India which revoked the special status of the Jammu and Kashmir state of India; supporting Kashmiri-Separatism in India, in which she called herself a 'proud Khalistani'.
Kaur released an IG video in 2020 calling Indian people "naked, hungry, dirty, idiots, illiterate, uneducated mother****ers".
In a now deleted video that Kaur uploaded on Instagram and Twitter, she slut-shamed Bollywood actresses, accusing them of 'sleeping their way to the top' and mocking the Indian #MeToo movement victims who spoke out against their perpetrators, who were mostly Film-directors, producers and senior actors by insinuating that they're lying and they asked for it and that they knew very-well about Bollywood's casting couch in advance.
Discography
EPs
- ''Voodoo Hill''
Albums
- Supawoman
- ''Party Loud All Year: P.L.A.Y''
Compilation appearances
- Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani
- ''The Rising - Volume 1''
Filmography
| Year | Film | Song | Language | Notes |
| 2007 | Johnny Gaddar | Move Your Body | Hindi | Special Appearance in Song |
| 2008 | Kismat Konnection | Move Your Body | Hindi | |
| 2008 | Bachna Ae Haseeno | Lucky Boy | Hindi | |
| 2008 | Ugly Aur Pagli | Tali | Hindi | |
| 2009 | Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani | Follow Me | Hindi | |
| 2009 | Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani | Main Tera Dhadkan | Hindi | |
| 2011 | Patiala House | Laung Da Lashkara | Hindi | First feature film role as Komal Chatwal |
| 2011 | Patiala House | Rola Pae Gaya | Hindi | First feature film role as Komal Chatwal |
| 2011 | F.A.L.T.U. | Char Baj Gaye | Hindi | |
| 2011 | F.A.L.T.U. | Faltu Title Track | Hindi | |
| 2013 | ABCD: Any Body Can Dance | Sadda Dil Vi Tu | Hindi | |
| 2013 | Gippi | We Are Like This Only | Hindi | |
| 2013 | Hanni | Punjabi | ||
| 2013 | Vanakkam Chennai | Chennai City Gangsta | Tamil | |
| 2014 | Babloo Happy Hai | Babloo Happy Hai | Hindi | |
| 2014 | The Shaukeens | Aashique Mizaz | Hindi | Composer |
| 2015 | Dilliwali Zaalim Girlfriend | Zaalim Dilli | Hindi | |
| 2016 | Sarrainodu | Sarrainodu | Telugu | |
| 2017 | OK Jaanu | Kaara Fankaara | Hindi |