Saawan Ka Mahina Hai Mach Gaya Shor
Fir Aya Hai Time To Choose, For Who Will Screw Us More
Aisi Taisi Democracy
Music as the Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman once said, has often been used to talk about the socially and politically relevant topics that grip the world. So, it’s no surprise, that political parties and politicians across the globe, often use music, to promote their ideologies, propagandas, etc. In India and around the globe, proper songs get adapted, tweaked and recreated to support with a political ideology, or be used to taunt a rival political party or a politician. Here are some of the most popular parodies.
'Hotel Hussainiwala'
‘Hotel Hussainiwala, for the uninitiated, is a play on the incident regarding PM Modi’s security breach, which left the Prime Minister of India’s convoy stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes while it was on its way to the National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala, a few kilometres away from the Pakistan border. The idea behind the original song, perhaps explains how the parody version just goes so seamlessly with the entire song. Even the outro, which retains the original guitar solo, blends in with the parody lyrics, and the weeping guitar bends, signify the frustration and disgust around the recent events, which may or may not, have an impact on the upcoming elections in Punjab.
'Man Se Hain Mulayam'
Released in 2014, by no prizes for guessing, Samajwaadi Party, the song borrows its tune from the popular American rock-noll, track ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’ by Billy Joel. While the original song, lyrically, talks about the various historical events (The moon landing, assassination of JFK, etc), that took place after Joel was born (1949) until the year of the song’s release (1989), ‘Mann Se Hain Mulayam’, an obvious word play on the party’s founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, describes the party’s ideologies, along with naming some of the biggest leaders who have been a part of the party.
'Chale Chalo Biden'
AR Rahman composed the track ‘Chale Chalo’ for the movie, which picturised a sequence in the film, where the primary characters were urged by the film’s protagonist, Bhuvan (Aamir Khan), to keep working hard in order to overcome their adversaries, and beat the evil force symbolised in the film by the British Raj. Roughly 20 years later, an Indian couple based in America, recreated the same song, and same lyrics, tweaking a few words, supporting American President Joe Biden, during the massively-covered American elections 2020. Here, the theme of good v evil, was aptly signified with Joe Biden being Bhuvan, while the evil British Raj was similar to Donald Trump.
‘Haal pherayo, Lal pherao’
Haal Pherao Laal Pherao, was the parody song, launched by the Left Front during the 2021 state elections in West Bengal, copying the Bollywood number ‘Lungi dance’ from the Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone- starrer ‘Chennai Express’, it sought to mellifluously criticise the policies of the BJP-led Centre as well as the Mamata Banerjee government in the state. Sharpening its attack on the TMC, the parody touches various issues such as coal pilferage from abandoned mines, Sarada scam, ''cut-money'' allegations.
