Mon 25 May9 AM PT · EP 539
The interview
The Bridge Weekly
·
Issue №05
·
From the Show
Mon 25 May 2026 · Wk 110
The Newsletter
A Weekly From
Sammy Chand
Sammy Chand
The Bridge
with Sammy Chand
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· On The Bridge — Mon 25 May
★ EP 539
This Week's Headline
Ali Zafar — one artist, every lane, no apologies.
In fifteen minutes, one of the very few artists who genuinely moves across every line this culture draws — language, country, medium, the whole map — sits down on The Bridge. Singer, actor, composer, painter, label-runner. The through-line, Sammy will argue at the top of the hour, isn't strategy. It's a refusal. A career-long refusal to be told he could only be one thing. One hour on the catalog, the crossovers, and the tour that kicks off May 30th in LA. Coffee in hand — we go live at 9 AM PT.
▶ Listen Monday 9 AM PT →
Read the week's plan →
01
This Week On The Bridge — Mon → Fri
Mon · 25 MayEP 539
In Conversation — Ali Zafar
Pakistan's biggest export · the catalog, the crossover, the country · three decades on one mic
Tue · 26 MayEP 540
In Conversation — Gayathri Krishnan
A voice from the South Indian classical world · the work, the discipline, the diaspora ear
Wed · 27 MayEP 541
In Conversation — Rajiv Satyal
The Funny Indian · stand-up, the I Am Indian video, twenty years of the desi comedy circuit
Thu · 28 MayEP 542
In Conversation — Sahib Samra
The artist behind 1 DAY — №6 on the chart and climbing · UK Punjabi's next wave
Fri · 29 MayEP 543
The Weekly Top 20 — the count of record.
One hour · twenty songs · what the week did
▶ This Week On The Bridge · In Conversation
Mon → Thu · 9 AM PT
Four voices. Four conversations. Four days.
The biggest Pakistani crossover artist of his generation. A voice from the South Indian classical world. The most-watched desi comedian on the touring circuit. The UK Punjabi name climbing the chart in real time. Mon to Thu — one guest a day, then Friday's Top 20. The kind of week only this show puts together.
Mon · EP 539
Ali Zafar
Singer · actor · painter — Pakistan's biggest crossover
Tue · EP 540
Gayathri Krishnan
A voice from the South Indian classical world
Wed · EP 541
Rajiv Satyal
Stand-up · the I Am Indian video · 20 years on the circuit
Thu · EP 542
Sahib Samra
1 DAY at №6 — UK Punjabi's next wave
02
From Sammy — The Argument
Ali Zafar isn't a "fusion" artist. He's a catalog artist. And we're about to spend an hour with one.
For a generation of listeners outside Pakistan, Ali Zafar is the first name they heard sung in Urdu that didn't come out of Bollywood — and that's because he built that lane himself. Channa in 2003. Sajania. Allah Hu. Rockstar. The first Pakistani to headline films in Bombay as a leading man. A painter. A label founder. A producer.
What you get when you put thirty years of that work in front of one mic isn't a press junket. It's a master class. Monday at 9 AM PT, that's what's on The Bridge.
When somebody has spent three decades being one of the most-streamed voices on the subcontinent, you don't ask them about a new release. You ask them how they built a body of work.
— Sammy · Monday's Open
03
The Shape Of The Week
Four guests, four days. Monday, Ali Zafar — the Pakistani pop catalog. Tuesday, Gayathri Krishnan — a voice from the South Indian classical world, the discipline behind the diaspora ear. Wednesday, Rajiv Satyal — twenty years of stand-up, the I Am Indian video that crossed over, the comedy circuit that built him. Thursday, Sahib Samra — the artist whose 1 DAY is sitting at №6 and climbing.
Friday, we count. The diaspora is voting, and it's voting wider than ever.
★ Why This Matters
As the founder of Rukus Avenue Music Group, I've spent three decades helping shape the modern South Asian music industry from the executive side of the table — signing artists, building catalogs, brokering the deals that quietly moved the genre forward. What I bring to this mic isn't punditry. It's pattern recognition from inside the rooms where this generation's sound got built.
04
The Bridge — By The Numbers
17
Countries Charting
Apple Podcasts
Apple Podcasts
539+
Episodes
Daily Since 2023
Daily Since 2023
100%
U.S. Markets
via iHeartRadio
via iHeartRadio
1/1
Daily SA Music Show
In The World
In The World
Last Week — The People Who Came Through
A film made by an audience, not just for one. So we gave it four guests — a star of it, a critic who covers it, an organizer using its momentum for something else entirely, and a band who covered its songs live. Five shows. Five voices. One conversation about the same week. If you missed any of it, the links go straight to my iHeart.
— Sammy · from the show
Mon · 18 MayEP 534
Kubbra Sait — Inside the Set
The actress sits down to set up Dhurandhar Week — what playing in the duology was like, what the music did for the film, and why the 1995 Punjabi folk source under the title track is the real foundation.
Tue · 19 MayEP 535
Anushka Arora — The Revenge Soundtrack
The critic and voice of the duology breaks down Part Two's soundtrack — the songs that did the work, the choices that didn't. The score, not the footage, is what made The Revenge land.
Wed · 20 MayEP 536
Reshma Dordi — Together We Can
A break from the film talk for the one that matters — Reshma on the May 30 community event for mental health, breaking the stigma, and the movement she's built. Free, open to all, Saturday in Woodland Hills.
Thu · 21 MayEP 537
Indofuzon — The Duology, Reimagined Live
Suraj, Sanjay and Radhika come on the mic from Dubai — the indo-fusion trio that's spent twelve years reimagining classic Hindi cuts as “Trending” takes. A live Top 15 across the two Dhurandhar soundtracks.
Fri · 22 MayEP 538 · THE COUNT
Top 20 Countdown — the chart made history
Dhee's Vari Vari takes №1 — the first Tamil-language song ever to top this count. Sanju Rathod's Bangles climbs to №2 (Marathi). Darshan Raval's Only Mine rises to №3 (Hindi). The top three is three different languages — for the second week running. Diljit's Morni slides to №4. Hustinder + Gurlez Akhtar's Well Known debuts at №5. Wazir Patar's Gulmohar enters at №9.
Recent Takes — From the Mic
The franchise didn't carry the music. The music carried the franchise. Aditya Dhar built a three-hour spy thriller on the spine of a 1995 Punjabi folk record. That's why it works.
Dhurandhar — The Load-Bearing Work · with Kubbra Sait
It wasn't the footage. It was the score. The Revenge lives or dies on the soundtrack, and the soundtrack lived.
The Revenge Soundtrack · with Anushka Arora
Mental health in this community is the thing nobody at the table is talking about. Reshma is putting the table in a park, in the open, and saying — sit down.
Together We Can · with Reshma Dordi
A live cover of a hit film cut isn't karaoke. It's the second draft of the song. And Indofuzon has been writing second drafts of the canon for twelve years.
The Duology, Reimagined Live · with Indofuzon
Last Week's Chart — Dhee's second №1.
4
New Entries
This Week
This Week
2×
Dhee — First Tamil Artist
With 2 №1s on The Bridge
With 2 №1s on The Bridge
W2
3-Language
Top 3 Held
Top 3 Held
2
Wazir Patar Tracks
In The Top 20
In The Top 20
1
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+2
2
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HOLD
3
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4
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−3
5
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NEW
6
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NEW
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NEW
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+4
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NEW
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▶ The Chart Story
Dhee's Vari Vari takes №1 — and Dhee becomes the first Tamil artist with two №1s on this count. Sanju Rathod's Marathi cut Bangles holds at №2, Darshan Raval's Only Mine climbs to №3 in Hindi — three languages in the top three for the second week running. Diljit's Morni, №1 for two straight weeks, slides to №4. Four new entries land in the count — Well Known (Hustinder + Gurlez Akhtar) at №5, Panj Lakh from Panjabi MC at №7, Wazir Patar's Gulmohar at №9, and Jai Dhir's Moon at №16. Sahib Samra's 1 DAY holds at №6 the week before his interview airs. Kanwar Gill and Fateh Doe's From The Bay holds Top 15 at №12 — two weeks after Kanwar's Ground Zero conversation. The diaspora is voting wider than the algorithm.
Recently… the Comedic Geniuses.
The Sufiyana Roshni Tour — Saturday in LA.
★ Hear him Monday. See him Saturday.
Four days after the interview — Ali takes the stage in Culver City.
15% OFFUse Code
Sammy's listeners save at the door. Use code RUKUS at checkout for 15% off — only through The Bridge. Tickets at sulekha.com.
RUKUS
Together We Can 2026 — this Saturday.
★ A free community event for mental health
Live music, speakers, yoga, henna, arts & crafts — and more.
★ Heard On Last Wednesday's Show · EP 536
Sammy talked with Reshma Dordi — the force behind Together We Can — about the event and the movement to bring mental health into the open. This Saturday is the day.
▶ Sign up & learn more — takeactionLA.com →
On the Mic Thursday — Sahib Samra
▶ EP 542 · Thu 28 May · In Conversation
UK Punjabi's next wave — and the man behind a record sitting at №6.
Born and raised in the UK. A producer first, an artist next — the kind of writer who builds the beat, the topline and the verses without leaving the room. 1 DAY is the cut that put him on every diaspora playlist this month — stripped, melancholic, and unmistakably his. Thursday, he sits down with Sammy to talk the catalog, the producer ear, and what UK Punjabi sounds like in 2026.
№6
1 DAY
This Week's Count
This Week's Count
W2+
On the Chart
And Holding
And Holding
UK
Home Base
The Diaspora
The Diaspora
EP 542
Thu 28 May
9 AM PT
9 AM PT
★ What To Listen For
The production credits as much as the vocals. Sahib writes the room, not just the song — and that's what makes the next single matter more than the last one.
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The week ahead, the week behind, the chart that proves it. Sent at 8:58 AM PT — two minutes before the show airs.
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