Rung, meaning Colour, is a song by Pakistani singer Ali Sethi that was released on Youtube on March 9, just a day after Aurat March (Women’s March) was held in Pakistan. The song has been filmed in Lahore and New York City by Umar Riaz and Diane Desobeau, and celebrates LGBTQ identities through the various visuals.
The video begins with an old man going through his old records and his memories,as the Mr. Sethi sings, “Tum aye ho to rungs hai, tum se hi hai karar, tum laye ye nazare, to baje hai dil ke tar” (You bring colour to my world, you put my soul at peace… All these sights you show, stir my heart’s strings). The visuals then cut to two young men, followed by two women inside a house playing with each other, and then two trans women in an auto rickshaw enjoying their ride.
Throughout the video, these people are shown having fun and enjoying themselves, a far cry from the stereotypical representation of queer people as sad and oppressed in the media. At one point in the video, there is a rainbow heart in one of the billboards behind the singer at Times Square,.
However, sadly, the video has been geo blocked in Pakistan by the singer, probably owing to the LGBTQ theme of it. When the video was released, it was available in Pakistan as well, but soon people of the country reported that it had been geo-blocked and they were not able to access it, thought the audio song was accessible on various platforms.
You can watch this beautiful song below: