Radio Haanji Podcast

Monday 16 March 2026 — Ranjodh Singh and senior journalist Pritam Singh Rupal bring you deep analysis of five major stories shaping India and Punjab today on Radio Haanji Indian Updates.The Election Commission of India has announced assembly elections in five states — West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry — with polling from April 9 to April 29 and counting on May 4. Punjab's Progressive Investors Summit concluded with Rs 12,250 crore committed, with major investments from Verbio India, Plaksha University, Nahar Industries and Tynor Orthotics. Home Minister Amit Shah officially declared at the BJP's Moga rally that the party will contest all 117 Punjab seats alone in 2027 — ending any speculation of an Akali Dal alliance. Sukhbir Badal has responded, calling the elections a fight against Delhi-based parties. And on Kanshi Ram's 92nd birth anniversary, both Congress and BSP have demanded India's highest civilian award for the Bahujan movement's founder — though each party is accusing the other of political opportunism.
 
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Monday 16 March 2026 — Ranjodh Singh covers 16 major stories on Radio Haanji Today Updates, including the latest on the Iran-US war, a historic day for Melbourne commuters, and a serious inflation warning for Australian households.Top stories today: The United States has now spent $16.5 billion in the first twelve days of the Iran war, with a daily cost of $1.43 billion. Iran's Red Cross reports 1,300 people killed. The US Embassy in Baghdad was hit by a missile attack. Iran has rejected Trump's ceasefire statement. Pope Leo XIV has called for peace. Israel killed 16 members of one family in Gaza. Crude oil is heading toward $150 per barrel. Twenty-two Indian ships are stranded in the Strait of Hormuz. Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers has warned inflation could peak at 4 to 5 percent. And Melbourne has today launched its long-awaited Myki-free tap-and-go travel trial.Today Updates is Radio Haanji 1674 AM's daily weekday news podcast — delivering the most important Australian and global stories to the Punjabi community in Australia, Canada, Singapore and worldwide.
 
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Monday mornings belong to Laughter Therapy. Today, Yash and Ranjodh Singh are on Radio Haanji 1674 AM bringing live chutkule (jokes), bolian (Punjabi folk couplets) and bujaratan (riddles) straight from the Punjabi community to your morning.This is Radio Haanji's most-loved daily show — a live call-in programme where Punjabi kids and adults share the humour that has been part of their culture for generations. From four-year-olds delivering chutkule with full confidence to adults stumping the hosts with impossible bujaratan, every episode is completely unscripted and entirely genuine.If you are part of the Punjabi diaspora in Australia, Singapore, Canada or anywhere in the world, Laughter Therapy is your daily reminder that no matter how far from Punjab you are, the warmth and laughter of your community travels with you.New episodes every Monday to Friday morning. All episodes free on demand.
 
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Udham Singh - 13 March 1940 - The Day a Punjabi Revolutionary Walked Into Caxton Hall and Made History
Eighty-six years ago today, a man walked into a meeting room in London, waited for the speeches to finish, and then did what he had spent 21 years preparing to do.
His name was Udham Singh. The year was 1940. And what happened that afternoon in Caxton Hall — a revolver hidden inside a book, a single act of defiance carried across two decades and two continents — is one of the most extraordinary stories in the history of India's freedom movement.
Today, on Radio Haanji 1674 AM, Ranjodh Singh marked the anniversary of that day. Because some dates deserve to be spoken aloud. Thirteen March 1940 is one of them.
Jallianwala Bagh — where the story begins, not ends
To understand what happened in London in 1940, you have to go back to Amritsar in 1919.
On 13 April 1919, British troops under Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer opened fire on a peaceful gathering at Jallianwala Bagh. The crowd had assembled for Baisakhi. They were unarmed. The exits were sealed. The firing continued until the ammunition ran low. Estimates of the dead range from several hundred to over a thousand. The wounded numbered far higher.
The massacre was not a miscalculation or a moment of panic. It was ordered, sustained, and defended. And among those who defended it most loudly was Michael O'Dwyer — the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab at the time — who endorsed General Dyer's action and called it correct. When the British government eventually forced Dyer into retirement under mounting pressure, O'Dwyer continued to publicly justify what had been done.
Udham Singh was in Amritsar that day. He saw what happened. He was a young man, barely past his teens, when the bullets tore through the garden. Whatever he carried away from Jallianwala Bagh, he carried for the rest of his life.
Twenty-one years of waiting
There is something almost impossible to hold about that span of time. Not weeks. Not months. Twenty-one years.
Udham Singh spent those years moving — India, Europe, the United States, East Africa. He was watched by British intelligence. He was arrested more than once. He lived under different names, took different work, kept moving. Through all of it, the purpose did not change.
By 1934 he was in England. By the late 1930s he was in London. He knew O'Dwyer was there. He knew the circles the man moved in — the colonial establishment's lecture halls and society meetings where former administrators gathered to remember an empire they still thought had been noble.
He waited for his moment. He prepared for it.
13 March 1940 — Caxton Hall, London
The meeting that evening was unremarkable by the standards of that world. The East India Association and the Royal Central Asian Society had arranged a joint gathering. O'Dwyer was among those scheduled to speak. These were the kinds of events that filled the diaries of British men who had administered India and returned home to write their memoirs.
Udham Singh was in the audience. He had a revolver hollowed into the pages of a book.
When the meeting ended and the crowd began to move, he stepped forward and fired. Michael O'Dwyer was struck twice and died at the scene. Others in the room were wounded, including the Secretary of State for India and the former Governor of Bengal.
Udham Singh did not run. He stood where he was and let himself be taken. There was no panic in his face, no scramble for an exit. He had spent 21 years planning this and he had known from the start that it ended here.
Ram Mohammad Singh Azad
When British police and then the court asked for his name, Udham Singh gave them one they had not expected.
Ram Mohammad Singh Azad.
Three names. A Hindu name, a Muslim name, a Sikh name, and the word for freedom — azad. It was a statement as deliberate as everything else he had done. He was not acting for one religion or one community. He was acting for India. The massacre at Jallianwala Bagh had not distinguished between Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs when the bullets flew. His answer to it would not either.
It was a moment of political clarity that cut through everything. Whatever the British press made of the shooting, whatever legal frame was placed around the trial, the name he gave in that courtroom said clearly what this was and what it was not.
The trial and the sentence
The trial did not take long. Udham Singh made no attempt to deny what he had done or explain it away. He told the court that O'Dwyer deserved what had happened to him, that Jallianwala Bagh had never been answered, that he had done his duty.
On 31 July 1940, he was hanged at Pentonville Prison in London. He was 37 years old.
He was buried in the prison grounds. His remains were eventually repatriated to India in 1974 — more than three decades after his death — and he was received in Punjab as a martyr. Sunam, the town in Sangrur district where he was born, held the kind of welcome that a man who waited 21 years for justice deserved.
India declared him Shaheed — martyr. Punjab claimed him as its son. The name Ram Mohammad Singh Azad endured.
What Ranjodh Singh brought to the microphone today
On Radio Haanji 1674 AM this morning, Ranjodh Singh did not just recount dates and facts. He carried the weight of this story into the present — because history like this does not stay in the past.
For Melbourne's Punjabi and Indian community, the story of Udham Singh travels across generations the way certain stories do. People who grew up hearing this name at home, from parents and grandparents who knew what Jallianwala Bagh meant to Punjab, now hear it told again through a radio station that speaks their language in a city on the other side of the world.
That continuity is what Radio Haanji does. On a morning when most people woke up to a Friday like any other, Ranjodh Singh made sure some of them woke up to 13 March as the date it actually is — the anniversary of a man who held onto a purpose for 21 years and saw it through.
You can listen to more history, culture and community coverage across Radio Haanji's full programming at haanji.com.au/podcast. For deep-dive historical episodes, the Sikh History podcast series and The Insight Report with Gautam Kapil are worth your time.
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Udham Singh waited 21 years for one day. The least any of us can do is remember it.
 
Radio Haanji 1674 AM | Punjabi Podcast | Broadcasting from Melbourne, AustraliaListen free at haanji.com.au | Available on Spotify & Apple PodcastsServing the Punjabi community across Melbourne · Sydney · Brisbane · Australia · Worldwide

Gurnam Bhullar on Ishqan De Lekhe - What He Told Balkirat Aulakh on Radio Haanji About the Film He Put His Heart Into
Gurnam Bhullar did not just act in Ishqan De Lekhe. He produced it.
That is the detail that most audiences miss when they watch the film — and it is the detail that makes this Radio Haanji conversation between Gurnam and host Balkirat Aulakh worth your time. When a producer sits in the chair across from an interviewer and talks about his own film, the conversation goes to places a standard press tour rarely reaches. He is not there to sell tickets. He already has the box office numbers. He is there because the film meant something to him, and he wants to talk about what.
This episode, streaming now at haanji.com.au/podcast, is one of those interviews that starts somewhere and ends up somewhere else entirely.
The man behind the film, not just in front of the camera
Gurnam Bhullar has been in Punjabi cinema long enough that his name on a poster carries weight. Qismat. Lekh. Rose Rosy Te Gulab. Every few years he chooses a project that pushes him somewhere new. Ishqan De Lekhe is different from those earlier films in one specific way: this time he built it from the ground up.
Producing a film while playing its male lead is a different kind of pressure. You are responsible for everything — the casting, the budget, the music direction — and then you walk on set and have to let all of that go and just be present in a scene. Gurnam spoke to Balkirat Aulakh about that double weight, and what comes through is not stress or self-congratulation. It is clarity. He knew what kind of film he wanted to make, and making it himself was the only way to make sure it came out that way.
That directness of intention shows in the finished product. Ishqan De Lekhe does not feel like a film made by committee. It has a point of view — about love, about trust, about what illness does to a relationship when neither person is ready for it. That coherence starts with the person who decided what the film was going to be before a single frame was shot.
Why Isha Malviya, and what he saw that others might have missed
Casting the female lead in a romantic drama is a decision that shapes everything. The wrong choice and no amount of strong writing or beautiful cinematography saves the film. Gurnam's conversation with Balkirat turned to this — the decision to cast Isha Malviya in her debut Punjabi feature, someone the audience knew from television and Bigg Boss but had never seen carry a full film.
What he describes is not a gamble. It is a reading of a person. Isha has something that you can see in very few actors, new or established — the ability to hold stillness on screen without going flat. Jasneet, the character she plays, is guarded, emotionally complex, and for much of the film operating under a painful misunderstanding. That is a hard thing to play. Overact it and you lose the audience's sympathy. Underplay it and the story stops moving. She does neither.
From a producer's perspective, Gurnam took on real risk with that decision. The film's emotional architecture depends on Jasneet being someone you believe in completely. That risk paid off — Isha's performance is the conversation people keep coming back to when they discuss the film.
The social message — and why he insisted it stay
One of the more striking things about Ishqan De Lekhe is that it carries a health awareness message woven into the love story, and it never once feels like an insert. You do not sit in the theatre and sense the gears shifting from romance to social responsibility. The two things move together, because they come from the same place in the story.
Gurnam spoke about this choice directly with Balkirat. The decision was deliberate. He wanted to make a film that did something beyond entertain — that left the audience with a thought that mattered. But the condition was that the message had to earn its place. If it disrupted the emotional journey of the story, it had to go. The fact that it stays in, and works, tells you something about how carefully the screenplay was constructed.
Punjabi cinema has been making this kind of film more and more in recent years — romance that carries weight beyond the romance. Ishqan De Lekhe belongs to that tradition. It takes it seriously.
What the diaspora response has meant
When a Punjabi film does well globally — in Australia, in Canada, in the UK, in the US — it means something specific to the people who made it. The diaspora audience has a particular relationship with Pollywood. These are communities where Punjabi is a language spoken at home, at the gurdwara, at weddings, and then often nowhere else. A Punjabi film that travels is not just commercial success. It is validation of a language and a culture that many in the diaspora spend their lives holding onto in a world that pushes constantly toward assimilation.
Gurnam's awareness of this came through clearly in the conversation. The response from Indian and Punjabi communities in Australia — people who have seen the film in cinemas here and are still talking about it — is the kind of feedback that means something different from a good review. It is the film reaching the people it was made for.
For Radio Haanji 1674 AM, this conversation matters for that exact reason. This station exists for Melbourne's Punjabi and Indian community. When Gurnam Bhullar sits down to speak on haanji.com.au/podcast, he is not doing a generic press circuit stop. He is talking to an audience that already has an intimate relationship with his work — people who follow Punjabi cinema not as a hobby but as a connection to home.
You can read the full breakdown of the film — cast, story, music, and more — in Radio Haanji's Ishqan De Lekhe review and cast guide. The conversation with Balkirat is the companion piece — what happens when the man who made the film explains why.
Listen to the Balkirat Aulakh and Gurnam Bhullar interview now on Radio Haanji
This episode is free. No subscription, no paywall.
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If Ishqan De Lekhe stayed with you after the credits, this conversation will tell you why it was always going to.
 
Radio Haanji 1674 AM | Punjabi Podcast | Broadcasting from Melbourne, AustraliaListen free at haanji.com.au | Available on Spotify & Apple PodcastsServing the Punjabi community across Melbourne · Sydney · Brisbane · Australia · Worldwide

ਚਾਅ - ਕਿਤਾਬ ਕਹਾਣੀ - Radio Haanji
ਆਵਾਜ਼: ਰਣਜੋਧ ਸਿੰਘ  |  ਵਿਧਾ: ਭਾਵਨਾਤਮਕ · ਅਸਲ ਜ਼ਿੰਦਗੀ  |  ਫ਼ਾਰਮੈਟ: ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਆਡੀਓ ਕਹਾਣੀ  |  ਲੜੀ: ਕਿਤਾਬ ਕਹਾਣੀ
ਕੁਝ ਖੁਸ਼ੀਆਂ ਇੰਨੀਆਂ ਵੱਡੀਆਂ ਹੁੰਦੀਆਂ ਨੇ
ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਵਿੱਚ ਇੱਕ ਸ਼ਬਦ ਹੈ — ਚਾਅ। ਖੁਸ਼ੀ ਨਾਲੋਂ ਵੱਡਾ। ਉਹ ਖੁਸ਼ੀ ਜੋ ਸਰੀਰ ਵਿੱਚ ਸਮਾਉਂਦੀ ਨਹੀਂ। ਅੱਜ ਦੀ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਕਹਾਣੀ ਉਸੇ ਚਾਅ ਬਾਰੇ ਹੈ — ਅਤੇ ਉਸ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਅਦ ਕੀ ਹੋਇਆ। ਰਣਜੋਧ ਸਿੰਘ ਦੀ ਆਵਾਜ਼ ਵਿੱਚ ਸੁਣੋ Radio Haanji ਦੀ ਕਿਤਾਬ ਕਹਾਣੀ ਵਿੱਚ ਇਹ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਆਡੀਓ ਕਹਾਣੀ।
ਕਹਾਣੀ ਬਾਰੇ
'ਚਾਅ' ਨਸੀਬ ਕੌਰ ਦੀ ਕਹਾਣੀ ਹੈ। ਚਾਰ ਧੀਆਂ, ਚਾਰ ਪੋਤੀਆਂ, ਅੱਠ ਸਾਲਾਂ ਦੀ ਉਡੀਕ — ਅਤੇ ਫਿਰ ਉਹ ਫੋਨ ਕਾਲ ਜਿਸਦਾ ਸਾਲਾਂ ਤੋਂ ਇੰਤਜ਼ਾਰ ਸੀ। ਇਹ ਅਸਲ ਜ਼ਿੰਦਗੀ ਵਿੱਚੋਂ ਨਿਕਲੀ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਕਹਾਣੀ ਹੈ ਜੋ ਅੰਦਰ ਤੱਕ ਜਾਂਦੀ ਹੈ — ਇੱਕ ਵਾਰ ਸੁਣਨ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਅਦ ਭੁੱਲਦੀ ਨਹੀਂ।
ਕਹਾਣੀ ਦਾ ਸਾਰ
ਨਸੀਬ ਕੌਰ ਦੇ ਬੇਟੇ ਦਰਸ਼ਨ ਨੇ ਫੋਨ ਕੀਤਾ: "ਮਾਂ, ਮੁੰਡਾ ਹੋਇਆ ਹੈ।"
ਅੱਠ ਸਾਲ। ਚਾਰ ਧੀਆਂ। ਚਾਰ ਪੋਤੀਆਂ। ਅਤੇ ਹੁਣ ਇਹ ਖਬਰ।
ਉਹ ਸਮਝ ਨਹੀਂ ਸੀ ਪਾ ਰਹੀ ਕਿ ਕੀ ਕਰੇ। ਰੋਵੇ, ਨੱਚੇ, ਕੋਠੇ ਚੜ੍ਹ ਕੇ ਰੌਲਾ ਪਾਵੇ। ਉਸਨੇ ਬਾਬੇ ਦੀ ਫੋਟੋ ਅੱਗੇ ਮੱਥਾ ਟੇਕਿਆ। ਨਵੇਂ ਕੱਪੜੇ ਪਾਏ। ਗੁਆਂਢੀਆਂ ਨੂੰ ਮਿਠਾਈਆਂ ਵੰਡੀਆਂ। ਸਾਰੇ ਪਿੰਡ ਵਿੱਚ ਖਬਰ ਫੈਲ ਗਈ।
ਫਿਰ ਉਹ ਗਿੱਧੇ ਵਿੱਚ ਸ਼ਾਮਿਲ ਹੋਣ ਗਈ। ਤਾੜੀਆਂ ਵੱਜ ਰਹੀਆਂ ਸਨ। ਅਤੇ ਅਚਾਨਕ ਉਹ ਡਿੱਗ ਪਈ।
ਦਰਸ਼ਨ ਉਸੇ ਵੇਲੇ ਪੋਤੇ ਨੂੰ ਲੈ ਕੇ ਘਰ ਪਹੁੰਚਿਆ। ਰਾਹ ਵਿੱਚ ਉਹ ਸੋਚਦਾ ਆ ਰਿਹਾ ਸੀ — ਮਾਂ ਬੂਹੇ 'ਤੇ ਖੜ੍ਹੀ ਹੋਵੇਗੀ, ਤੇਲ ਚੋਵੇਗੀ, ਵਧਾਈਆਂ ਦੇਵੇਗੀ।
ਪਰ ਮਾਂ ਬੂਹੇ 'ਤੇ ਨਹੀਂ ਸੀ।
ਪੋਤਾ ਘਰ ਆ ਗਿਆ ਸੀ। ਪਰ ਪੋਤੇ ਤੋਂ ਪਹਿਲਾਂ ਦਾਦੀ ਜਾ ਚੁੱਕੀ ਸੀ।
ਇਹ ਕਹਾਣੀ ਇੱਕ ਵਾਰ ਸੁਣੋ
ਕੁਝ ਕਹਾਣੀਆਂ ਹੁੰਦੀਆਂ ਨੇ ਜੋ ਤੁਹਾਡੇ ਨਾਲ ਬਣੀਆਂ ਰਹਿੰਦੀਆਂ ਹਨ। ਇਹ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਕਹਾਣੀ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਵਿੱਚੋਂ ਹੈ। ਸਿਆਣੇ ਕਹਿੰਦੇ ਨੇ — ਕੁਝ ਖੁਸ਼ੀਆਂ ਇੰਨੀਆਂ ਵੱਡੀਆਂ ਹੁੰਦੀਆਂ ਨੇ ਕਿ ਦਿਲ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਦਾ ਭਾਰ ਝੱਲ ਨਹੀਂ ਸਕਦਾ। ਇੱਕ ਆਉਂਦਾ ਹੈ, ਇੱਕ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ।
ਸ਼ਾਇਦ ਇਸੇ ਸਫ਼ਰ ਨੂੰ ਜ਼ਿੰਦਗੀ ਕਹਿੰਦੇ ਨੇ।
ਰਣਜੋਧ ਸਿੰਘ ਦੀ ਆਵਾਜ਼ ਵਿੱਚ
ਇਸ ਕਹਾਣੀ ਵਿੱਚ ਬਹੁਤ ਕੁਝ ਅਜਿਹਾ ਹੈ ਜੋ ਲਫ਼ਜ਼ਾਂ ਤੋਂ ਪਰੇ ਹੈ। ਰਣਜੋਧ ਸਿੰਘ ਦੀ ਆਵਾਜ਼ ਉਹ ਥਾਂ ਪਹੁੰਚਦੀ ਹੈ ਜਿੱਥੇ ਸ਼ਬਦ ਨਹੀਂ ਪਹੁੰਚਦੇ। ਇਹ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਆਡੀਓ ਕਹਾਣੀ ਸੁਣਦੇ ਹੋਏ ਕਈ ਥਾਵਾਂ 'ਤੇ ਰੁਕਣਾ ਪਵੇਗਾ।
ਕਿਤਾਬ ਕਹਾਣੀ ਬਾਰੇ
ਕਿਤਾਬ ਕਹਾਣੀ Radio Haanji ਦਾ ਰੋਜ਼ਾਨਾ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਆਡੀਓ ਕਹਾਣੀ ਸੈਗਮੈਂਟ ਹੈ — ਸੋਮਵਾਰ ਤੋਂ ਸ਼ੁੱਕਰਵਾਰ। ਅਧਿਆਤਮਿਕ, ਇਤਿਹਾਸਕ, ਭਾਵਨਾਤਮਕ ਅਤੇ ਅਸਲ ਜ਼ਿੰਦਗੀ ਦੀਆਂ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਕਹਾਣੀਆਂ — ਦੁਨੀਆ ਦੇ ਕਿਸੇ ਵੀ ਕੋਨੇ ਤੋਂ ਮੁਫ਼ਤ ਸੁਣੋ।
Chaa — A Punjabi Audio Story
Narrator: Ranjodh Singh  |  Genre: Emotional · Real Life  |  Format: Punjabi Audio Story
About this story
There's a word in Punjabi — chaa. It doesn't translate cleanly. It's somewhere between joy and longing, the kind of happiness that fills the body completely. Today's Punjabi kahani on Radio Haanji's Kitaab Kahani is called Chaa. It's about a woman named Nasib Kaur, and the day she got the news she had been waiting eight years to hear. Narrated by Ranjodh Singh.
What happens
Nasib Kaur's son Darshan calls. A grandson. After four daughters, four granddaughters, eight years of waiting — a grandson.
She doesn't know what to do with herself. She touches her face and finds her eyes are wet. She bows at the photograph of her father. She puts on new clothes. She sends the neighbour's boy running for sweets. She spreads the news across the whole village. Then she joins the women dancing the giddha.
And then she falls.
Darshan drives home with the baby, imagining his mother at the door. Oil in her hand. Ready to welcome. He walks in. She's not there.
The baby came home. But the grandmother had already left.
The last line
The storyteller ends with a saying: some joys are so big the heart cannot carry their weight. One arrives, one leaves. Perhaps this is what they call life.
It's a beautiful line. It's also devastating. That tension — between the arrival and the departure happening on the same day — is what makes this Punjabi story stay with you.
Ranjodh Singh
This is the kind of story where narration matters enormously. The pacing, the silences, the moment the cheering stops. Ranjodh Singh narrates the Kitaab Kahani Punjabi audio kahani series on Radio Haanji, and his voice handles grief and joy in the same breath in a way that feels genuinely earned.
About Kitaab Kahani
Kitaab Kahani is Radio Haanji's daily Punjabi story segment — new episodes Monday to Friday. Motivational, spiritual, historical, real-life. Free to listen from anywhere.
 
Radio Haanji 1674 AM | Punjabi Podcast | Broadcasting from Melbourne, AustraliaListen free at haanji.com.au | Available on Spotify & Apple PodcastsServing the Punjabi community across Melbourne · Sydney · Brisbane · Australia · Worldwide

Fun Friday - 13 March 2026 - Yash and Ranjodh Singh Turn Friday the 13th Into the Best Morning of the Week on Radio Haanji
Friday the 13th has a reputation. Yash and Ranjodh Singh spent this morning dismantling it, one caller at a time.
Fun Friday on Radio Haanji 1674 AM does not really care what the calendar says. It shows up every Friday regardless — funny stories, live calls, the kind of banter between two hosts who genuinely enjoy each other's company — and today was no different. If anything, the date gave the morning an extra edge. Bad luck is hard to believe in when you are laughing.
Friday the 13th? Yash and Ranjodh Singh had other plans
There is a version of this show that could have leaned into the superstition, milked it for easy material, made the whole hour about the date. That is not how Yash and Ranjodh Singh work. They brought what they always bring — themselves, a phone line and a community that knows what to do with both.
What makes Fun Friday actually work is not the format. Plenty of shows have caller segments and funny stories. What this show has is two hosts whose chemistry is not performed. Yash and Ranjodh Singh riff off each other the way people do when they are not thinking about how it sounds, and that looseness is exactly what gives the show its texture. Listeners pick up on it immediately. You can tell when people on air are genuinely enjoying themselves, and when they are going through motions. This is the former.
Friday the 13th or not, the morning felt like it always does on this show — slightly chaotic, warm, and very hard to switch off.
Callers, stories and the laughter you didn't know you needed
The caller segment is where Fun Friday gets interesting every week. People ring in from across Melbourne's Punjabi and Indian community with stories from their actual lives — things that happened at work, at home, at the shops, that somehow became funnier in the retelling than they were in the moment. Nobody scripts these. The laughs are real because the situations are real.
There is something specific about community radio caller segments that you do not get anywhere else. The people who call in are not trying to be performers. They are just sharing something they thought was funny, or something that embarrassed them, or something that happened to their neighbour. Yash and Ranjodh Singh know how to hold that space — they react honestly, they push the story further when it wants to go there, and they let it breathe when it doesn't.
For listeners who follow Radio Haanji's full range of programming — the political analysis of Indian Updates, the geopolitical depth of The Insight Report — Fun Friday is the counterweight. The week asks a lot of people. This show asks only one thing: sit back and laugh. Visit haanji.com.au/podcast to explore the full lineup.
Why Fun Friday has stuck around
The show's premise is not complicated. Make people laugh on a Friday morning. Help them go into the weekend feeling lighter than they felt going into the hour. That is it.
It sounds simple. Executing it consistently, week after week, with different callers and unpredictable conversations, is harder than it looks. Yash and Ranjodh Singh have managed it because they treat the show like what it actually is — a conversation with their community, not a performance for it. The distinction matters more than it sounds.
For Melbourne's Indian and Punjabi community, Fun Friday on Radio Haanji 1674 AM has become a Friday fixture the way certain things just do — not because anyone decided they should, but because people kept coming back. As a free Punjabi podcast online, it removes every barrier. No subscription, no algorithm deciding whether to serve it to you. It is there every Friday, ready to go, and has been for long enough that missing it now would feel like something is missing from the week.
Friday the 13th is allegedly unlucky. An hour with Yash and Ranjodh Singh suggests otherwise.
Listen to Fun Friday - free every Friday morning on Radio Haanji
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Radio Haanji 1674 AM | Punjabi Podcast | Broadcasting from Melbourne, AustraliaListen free at haanji.com.au | Available on Spotify & Apple PodcastsServing the Punjabi community across Melbourne · Sydney · Brisbane · Australia · Worldwide

Indian Updates - 13 March 2026 - LPG Crisis, Punjab Politics and Investment - Radio Haanji
Preetam Singh Rupal, a respected India-based journalist, joined host Ranjodh Singh on Radio Haanji 1674 AM this Friday for Indian Updates - a programme that does not stop at headlines. Today's episode took on three stories that are moving through Punjab and India's political economy simultaneously: a domestic LPG shortage that is hitting ordinary households hard, a sharp statement from Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa, and the launch of the Partisheel Punjab Niveshak Samelan. Each one has layers worth unpacking.
Punjab's LPG Crisis - When the Gas Runs Out, the Silence Gets Loud
The news that gas agencies across Punjab have shut down online LPG booking and replaced it with long physical queues should not be treated as a logistics story. It is a governance story. When a basic household commodity becomes inaccessible enough to drive people into lines in front of distribution offices, something has gone wrong further up the chain - and the question is whether that failure is administrative, political or structural.
The shortage points to a gap between supply commitments and actual distribution capacity. LPG availability in India has long been tied to government subsidy policy, import volumes, and the efficiency of the last-mile delivery network. When any part of that chain tightens - whether due to global energy prices, import disruption, or distribution mismanagement - it is the domestic kitchen that notices first. In Punjab, where LPG dependency is high across both urban and rural households, the impact is immediate and visible.
For the Indian community in Australia watching this, the practical question is a familiar one. Families back home navigate these shortages with workarounds - relatives standing in queues, informal network bookings, switching fuels temporarily. The systems that were supposed to modernise and simplify access to cooking gas have, in this instance, reverted to something far more inconvenient. Preetam Singh Rupal's analysis today placed this in the context of ongoing questions about state-level energy management and the accountability gaps that allow such shortages to develop without early warning.
Partap Singh Bajwa's Statement - Reading Between the Lines in Punjab's Opposition Politics
Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa made a statement that Radio Haanji covered today as part of the ongoing conversation around Punjab's political landscape. Bajwa has been one of the more vocal opposition voices in the state, and his public positions tend to signal where the Congress party in Punjab is trying to place itself relative to the AAP government.
Without the full text of the statement, the analytical frame matters more than the specific words. Punjab's opposition politics in 2026 operates in a compressed space. The AAP government remains the dominant force at the state level, and the Congress, despite its history in Punjab, has struggled to rebuild a coherent identity since 2022. Statements from senior figures like Bajwa function partly as positioning - for internal party audiences, for media cycles, and for the community that Indian Updates reaches in Australia.
For NRIs following Punjab politics from Melbourne or Sydney, the significance is real. Many in the Punjabi diaspora have direct stakes in the state's political direction - family land, business interests, electoral connections through relatives. Indian Updates provides the interpretive layer that raw news does not. What is Bajwa's statement about? What is the political calculation behind it? What does it mean for the broader opposition's chances of making ground before the next cycle? These are the questions Preetam Singh Rupal brought to today's episode.
Partisheel Punjab Niveshak Samelan - What the Investment Summit Is Actually Trying to Do
The Partisheel Punjab Niveshak Samelan gets underway today, and it is worth being precise about what these investment summits represent in the current Indian political economy. Punjab has been holding investment gatherings as part of a broader attempt by the AAP government to reframe the state's economic narrative - shifting the conversation from agricultural distress and drug-related challenges toward growth, jobs and private capital.
Investment summits at the state level in India are part political event, part business forum, and part aspirational signalling. The numbers announced in MoUs and letters of intent during these events tend to be the opening bid, not the final score. How much of the committed investment actually materialises over the following years, and in which sectors, tells a more accurate story than the headline figure from day one.
The samelan's launch today puts it directly in the news cycle that Indian Updates is covering, and for the Indian community in Australia, there is a specific angle worth noting. Several in the Punjabi diaspora have investment interest in Punjab - manufacturing, real estate, agriculture-related processing, technology. Events like this are, at minimum, a window into where the state government is directing its economic pitch. Preetam Singh Rupal brought the kind of analytical rigour today that separates Indian Updates from a straight news read - the context of how previous Punjab investment summits have performed, and what the current administration needs this one to deliver.
If you want to hear how Indian Updates has approached earlier India stories this year, the Radio Haanji podcast archivehas previous episodes available for free. Shows like Today Updates and The Insight Report cover complementary ground if you are following multiple threads across Indian and global affairs.
Why Indian Updates Is Worth Making Time For Every Weekday
There is no shortage of India coverage online. The problem is almost the opposite - too many sources, too little context, and almost no programming made specifically for Indians who have built their lives in Australia but remain deeply connected to what happens back home.
Indian Updates on Radio Haanji fills a specific gap. It is not a news feed. It is closer to the kind of conversation you would have with a knowledgeable friend who follows Indian politics and economics closely and can tell you not just what happened, but why it matters and what it is likely to lead to. That voice, five days a week, free, on a station that understands its audience, is harder to find than it should be.
For the Indian community in Melbourne especially, the show works because the journalism is credible. Guests like Preetam Singh Rupal bring genuine expertise - they are not reading wire copy with added commentary. The analysis comes from people who are embedded in the stories they cover. The Indian current affairs podcast space in Australia has grown considerably, but Indian Updates remains the programme that takes its audience seriously as a politically and civically engaged community.
Listen to Indian Updates - Free, Every Weekday on Radio Haanji
Every episode of Indian Updates is free to stream the same day it airs.
Listen on Spotify
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Monday's episode will bring the next set of stories from India. If today's analysis left you with more questions than answers - which is often the sign of a genuinely complex story - tune in on Radio Haanji 1674 AM and hear what Preetam Singh Rupal and the team make of where things stand.
 
Radio Haanji 1674 AM | Punjabi Podcast | Broadcasting from Melbourne, AustraliaListen free at haanji.com.au | Available on Spotify & Apple PodcastsServing the Punjabi community across Melbourne · Sydney · Brisbane · Australia · Worldwide

Today Updates - 13 March 2026 - World and Australia News - Radio Haanji
Ranjodh Singh was on air this Friday morning for Today Updates on Radio Haanji 1674 AM, running through a heavy news day that stretched from the Middle East to Melbourne's share market. It is the kind of Friday where the news does not slow down just because the weekend is close, and the show covered it all across the World and Australia segments.
World Updates
Iran's newly appointed military commander came out publicly on Friday with a clear message: the attacks will continue. He said Iran intends to maintain constructive relationships with its neighbours but will not yield to pressure from the United States. In the same statement, he pointed to the casualties from strikes on a school and civilian sites as part of his justification for Iran's ongoing military posture. It is a significant opening statement from someone taking command during one of the most volatile periods in the region.
The Iranian president followed that with a separate development. He set out conditions under which Iran would consider de-escalation with the United States and Israel. The conditions were not vague diplomatic language - they were specific, and whether Washington and Tel Aviv treat them as a genuine opening or dismiss them entirely will shape the next phase of this conflict. No agreement has been reached and the situation remains active.
On the trade front, the Trump administration moved to launch a new round of investigations tied to tariff policy. The details are still emerging, but the broader direction of the administration's economic approach - using tariffs as both leverage and revenue tools - continues to be a live issue for international markets and trading partners.
Russia is recording significant profits from crude oil sales, driven in part by the volatility in the Middle East. When regional instability pushes oil supply concerns higher, Russian oil finds more buyers and commands stronger prices. It is an indirect benefit from a conflict that Moscow has no direct hand in, and the timing is not lost on energy analysts watching the numbers.
A shooting in Michigan in the United States left the attacker dead. Authorities confirmed the incident was neutralised. The broader details around motive and circumstances are still being established.
In southern Ethiopia, a landslide has killed more than fifty people, with over a hundred still unaccounted for. Search and rescue operations are ongoing in difficult terrain. It is one of the deadlier natural disasters the region has seen this year and the numbers may rise as teams continue to work through the affected areas.
China's annual Two Sessions political meetings wrapped up with a notable emphasis on technology development. The government signalled major investment directions in areas like artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing. These are not small announcements - they reflect where China's leadership wants the country positioned economically over the next five to ten years.
Finally, Iran has been excluded from the FIFA 2026 World Cup. The decision comes amid the country's ongoing international pressures and will be felt by Iranian football fans who had been following their national team's qualification prospects closely.
Australia This Week - What It Means for Our Community
The Australian government announced it is moving to facilitate the return of Australian citizens currently in Israel and the UAE. The move comes as conditions in parts of the region remain unpredictable and the government has opted to act rather than wait. For families in Melbourne and Sydney with relatives caught up in those areas, this is directly relevant news.
The GST distribution formula is back under debate, with a projected $60 billion burden being discussed in the context of how funds are divided between states. These conversations tend to get technical quickly, but for the Indian community in Australia - particularly those running small businesses or employed in state-funded services - the downstream effects on state budgets are real.
The Liberal National Party made a public statement on Friday, though the specifics will need to be followed through the full broadcast for context. Political positioning ahead of upcoming cycles is something Radio Haanji covers as part of keeping the community informed about where the major parties stand.
Australia's share market took a significant hit, recording a loss of approximately $42 billion. The fall tracks with global market nervousness around the Middle East situation, the US tariff announcements, and broader uncertainty in energy prices. For the many in the Indian and Punjabi community who have investments or superannuation tied to market performance, this is a number worth paying attention to.
On a more forward-looking note, Australia and Korea are set to face off in the Asia Cup. For cricket fans in Melbourne - and there are many - this is the kind of match that will be watched in living rooms across the suburbs.
Catch Up on India Updates
Ranjodh Singh also covered developments from the subcontinent as part of today's India segment on air. You can listen to the full episode through any of the platforms listed below to hear that coverage in full.
Why Today Updates Is Worth Your Time Every Morning
There is no shortage of news sources in 2026. What Today Updates on Radio Haanji does differently is filter the day's headlines through a lens that actually makes sense for the Punjabi and Indian community living in Australia. World events, Australian policy, and India news - in that order, every weekday morning, free and accessible on any device.
For the Indian community in Melbourne in particular, staying across Australian news that affects immigration, the economy, and multicultural policy is not optional - it is practical. Today Updates treats its listeners as people who need accurate, clear information, not a summary designed for someone else's context.
The show is available on Radio Haanji 1674 AM live, and every episode goes up on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and the Radio Haanji app the same day. If you missed this morning, you have not missed it for good.
Listen to Today Updates - Free, Anytime, Anywhere
Every episode of Today Updates is free to stream and download across all major platforms.
Listen on Spotify
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Monday brings a fresh set of headlines. Tune in to Today Updates on Radio Haanji 1674 AM and start the week informed.
 
Radio Haanji 1674 AM | Punjabi Podcast | Broadcasting from Melbourne, AustraliaListen free at haanji.com.au | Available on Spotify & Apple PodcastsServing the Punjabi community across Melbourne · Sydney · Brisbane · Australia · Worldwide

Friday Morning Chutkule - Laughter Therapy Punjabi Podcast - 13 March 2026
Friday mornings hit different when Yash and Ranjodh Singh are on air. Laughter Therapy on Radio Haanji 1674 AM wrapped up the week the way it always does - with the Punjabi community across Melbourne calling in, sharing chutkule, bolian and bujaratan, and generally refusing to let a single listener start their day in a bad mood.
If you missed this morning's show, here is what went down.
Friday's Laughter Therapy - How the Morning Came to Life
Laughter Therapy airs Monday to Friday on 1674 AM, and by Friday the energy from the whole week builds into something a bit looser, a bit warmer. Yash and Ranjodh Singh have been running this show long enough that the format feels easy - not scripted, not forced. Callers know what to expect, hosts know the community, and the chutkule flow without anyone needing a prompt.
The show runs in two parts. First the kids call in. Then the adults. The theme stays the same throughout: laughter, Punjabi language, and the kind of community connection that is genuinely hard to find at 8am on a weekday.
You can catch previous episodes of Laughter Therapy on the Radio Haanji podcast page if you want to hear how different each morning sounds from the last.
Kids Take the Mic - Chutkule, Bolian and Bujaratan
The first half of the show belongs to the kids. Children aged four to fourteen call in from across Melbourne and do what kids do best - they are honest, quick, and completely unpredictable.
Some share chutkule they have heard at home. Others try bujaratan - the Punjabi riddle tradition that has grandparents and grandchildren speaking the same language even when everything else feels different. Then there are the bolian, the rhythmic Punjabi verses that feel like a direct line back to Punjab no matter which suburb in Melbourne you are calling from.
There is something genuinely useful about this segment beyond the entertainment. Kids who are growing up speaking English at school and Punjabi at home get a space on actual radio where their language sounds celebrated rather than out of place. That matters. Ranjodh Singh and Yash both understand this, which is why they give the kids room to go off-script.
You can listen to how this segment sounds across different episodes on the Laughter Therapy podcast archive - each episode is its own thing.
Adults Keep the Laughter Going
The second half of the show switches to adult callers. The chutkule get a little sharper, the bolian a little more layered, and the back-and-forth between Yash, Ranjodh Singh and the listeners settles into something that sounds less like a radio show and more like a group chat that got on air.
Adult callers bring their own flavour. Some share jokes that have clearly been tested at the dinner table. Some go off on tangents that the hosts reel in - or let run, depending on how good the tangent is. The bolian in this segment often carry a bit more history, a bit more reference to the Punjab that many callers left behind years or decades ago.
The show does not try to be serious. It does not wrap up with life lessons. It just keeps the laughter going until the clock runs out, which is exactly what the name promises.
If you want to explore other shows on Radio Haanji, the full podcast library at haanji.com.au covers everything from news to music to community conversations.
Why This Punjabi Podcast Has Melbourne Listening Every Morning
Laughter Therapy is not the only Punjabi podcast in Australia. But it is the one that has been showing up every weekday morning consistently, on an actual radio frequency - 1674 AM - while also being available on every major podcast platform.
The combination of live radio and podcast distribution means the community can engage in real time during the morning commute and then catch up on Spotify or Apple Podcasts whenever it suits them. No paywall, no subscription required. It has always been free, and that is not going to change.
What the show has figured out - and what a lot of podcast content gets wrong - is that community does not need a theme or a hook. It needs a reason to show up. Laughter is a pretty good reason. Chutkule from a seven-year-old in Dandenong at 8am on a Friday? Even better.
Radio Haanji 1674 AM covers Melbourne and Sydney and carries the tagline "Australia's number 1 Indian and Punjabi radio station." Laughter Therapy is one of the main reasons that claim holds up.
Listen and Never Miss a Friday Morning Again
Laughter Therapy airs Monday to Friday every morning on Radio Haanji 1674 AM. You can stream it live on the station's app or listen back on any of the platforms below.
Listen on Spotify
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Download the iOS App
Download the Android App
Monday morning comes around faster than you expect. Tune in and bring the whole family.
 
Radio Haanji 1674 AM | Punjabi Podcast | Broadcasting from Melbourne, AustraliaListen free at haanji.com.au | Available on Spotify & Apple PodcastsServing the Punjabi community across Melbourne · Sydney · Brisbane · Australia · Worldwide