New Delhi: When it comes to whipping up the crowd’s enthusiasm at a political rally, few things work better than singing songs, chanting slogans and sprinkling everything with a few parodies.
With this in mind, India’s political parties have drawn up budgets for entertainment at rallies, especially given that music is a large part of Indian culture.
It’s campaign time and composers, lyricists and singers are about to make good return.
“It feels good when music composed by us is blared as a leader’s cavalcade goes from one constituency to the other,” said Mumbai-based composer Nikhil Kamath.
Kamath, who composed songs and parodies for the Samajwadi Party (SP) recalls, “I was pleasantly surprised when one day I received a call from now chief minister of UP Akhilesh Yadav. He had approached me on behalf of his father in the 2011 assembly elections to compose the new anthem for the party.” Kamath composed a tune and got lyricist Vimal Kashyap to come up with a slogan, “The voice of independent India says the entire country is proud of this party”.
Instant hit
Kamath says, “We gave the SP about 40 such songs that can be used even during the coming elections, as all were not used in one go. Akhilesh was very impressed and said that he had got exactly what he was looking for.
“Though at that time we were working on songs for Mulayam Singh Yadav’s campaign, when I was doing the last song, I decided to devote one to Akhilesh. It went like this: ‘There are winds of change all around the state and Akhilesh is seen as a morning ray’.”
By then, Akhilesh had gotten so popular that the song became an instant hit.
Many of the songs were sung by Javed Ali of Bollywood hits such as Nagada nagada (Jab We Met) and Jashn-e-bahara (Jodhaa Akbar).
Kamath, who composes for Bollywood films, says, “I prefer a melodious approach rather than making loud compositions. This has worked well and proved successful.”
On whether the election songs market had already burst into life, a Congress worker said, “There is still time and we are yet to figure out and assign work to parody makers.”
Pandit Kiran Mishra, who wrote Jai Ho for the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire and specialises in devotional songs, reminisces about the time when Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi toured Uttar Pradesh during the 2011 assembly elections.
“[As Gandhi was] waving to the crowds from atop an SUV that made its way through dusty lanes of villages, the reworked version: ‘Come together for UP’s progress; come together for Rahul’s vision, be victorious’ reverberated all around,” Mishra says.
“The song was written in a day at film star and Congress Party member Raj Babbar’s house in Delhi. Several party members were around and each one of them was providing suggestions. But after much argumentative banter, the end result was appreciated by all.”
Even as the Congress was working on the song, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) picked up its parody Bhae ho against its rival party. In states such as Uttarakhand, the BJP went a step ahead by playing the parody of Ooh la la (The Dirty Picture) as a warning to the opposition to keep its allegedly corruption-laden ways out of the state.
Many other songs have been used in the background of video clips of speeches and messages of party leaders.
“The parodies not only liven things up and stir the pot a little during the elections, but also help in catching the attention of the masses and striking an instant chord, especially with the youngsters,” a BJP leader said.
The party, no doubt, prefers songs that are fast and peppy. It rejigged a popular track from the movie Dabangg to say “UP has gone bankrupt during the reign of sister” (referring to Mayawati) and changed another song to say “Congress has destroyed Delhi” in the 2008 assembly elections.
Denying any political party affiliation, most writers and musicians claim the songs and parodies are only tools to attract crowds to the rallies and keep them entertained until the leaders arrive.
Leader, writer
BJP leader, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who recently described the Congress as the Mogambo (Bollywood film villain) of price rise, seems to be one of the leaders most enthusiastic about Hindi films and songs.
He is known to write parodies for the party. Usually, he will sample hit songs, as rendering new tunes is not only difficult, but also does not easily get people’s attention.
Apart from songwriters in Mumbai, several folk singers in rural areas also find employment at election time. They prepare songs as per the brief of the candidates, using names of the leaders in the lyrics of their folk songs. While some are instructed to highlight the achievements of the party and raise contemporary issues while penning the lyrics, others write parodies to keep the masses amused.
Others who grab the opportunity during elections include, vehicle owners, music system owners, hoarding makers and those dealing in printing pamphlets and posters. So, not only film songs, but also jingles and film titles find a place on pamphlets and posters.
