Inspired by Gully Boy, 2 Punjab IAS officers have a poll message for post-millenials
Politics

Inspired by Gully Boy, 2 Punjab IAS officers have a poll message for post-millenials

Two Punjab IAS officers and a govt servant are behind a rap number the EC has approved to spread voter awareness. Plan is to run it on Facebook, radio & YouTube.

   
A still from still from Gully Boy | YouTube

A still from still from Gully Boy | YouTube

Chandigarh: Apna time aayega,
Tu nanga hee to aaya hai
Kya ghanta leke jaayega?

Months before the movie Gully Boy was released, this rap number from the film had become the anthem of India’s Gen X.

Now, piggy-backing on the musical flavour of the season, the Mohali administration is sending a message to young voters this election season.

Sample this:

Aa raha yeh chunav hai,
Hamara bhi to koi adhikaar hai
Vote nahin karega to kya wajood bhadas ki?
Paisa daaru vote ke liye kya wajood hai aas ki?

(This election is coming,
We also have some rights
What is the point of your frustration if you don’t vote?
Why would you ever trade hope for money and alcohol?)

The lyrics are part of a rap number, called the Election Rap, that the Mohali administration is using to spread voter awareness under the Systematic Voter Education and Voter Participation’ (SVEEP) programme. It is the brainchild of two IAS officers and a Punjab government employee.

https://static.theprint.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Listen-to-the-audio-here.mp3?_=1

The song has the approval of the Election Commission of India and is now being shared on WhatsApp, with plans to spread it through radio, Facebook and even on YouTube complete with a video.

“Rap is the language of the young and restless and if you have a message to send down to India’s post-millennials, rap it is,” says Gurpreet Kaur Sapra, deputy commissioner, Mohali, who encouraged her team to find novel ways to spread the message to young voters.

“This is part of the EC’s SVEEP programme aimed at generating awareness among all sections of the society about exercising their democratic right to vote,” Sapra adds.

The idea to use rap to send a message belongs to Sakshi Sawhney, a young 2014 batch IAS officer of Punjab, currently posted as the additional deputy commissioner of Mohali.

“She wrote the rap number, got it sung and composed. It is her effort,” Sapra says.

While Sawhney has wrote the lyrics, the song has been sung by Hiten Kapila, a block development and panchayat officer posted in Mohali. Kapila is also an established musician and performs under the stage name ‘Avisaar’.

Lovees, a professional music director, has composed the music.

“The idea to write a rap song on voting came while watching Gully Boy,” says Sawhney. “I thought we need to focus on three things: First and most significant, voting is your right, second, if you do not vote, you have no right to crib about the way things are around you and, the third, I touch upon the credibility of the EVMs.”

This is how the rest of her song goes:

Vote teri keemti na hoga pher badal
Santushti ko teri VVPAT bhi to aayi hai
Dekh sakega tu teri vote kisko paayi hai…

(Your vote is valuable, there will not be any change to it
For your satisfaction, there is now the VVPAT
You will be able to see who your vote goes to)

Uff yeh kya majboori hai
Apne future se itni kya doori hai
Baad mein tu kyun pachtayega
Agar time pe vote nahin banayega
Agar tujhme hai dum
Utha kuch kadam
Form 6 ko tu bhar de
Bharat kee taqdeer badal de 

(What is this compulsion
What is this distance between you and your future
Why would you regret later
If you won’t vote now.
If you have the courage
Take some step
Fill the Form 6
and change India’s destiny)


Also read: Beyond Gully Boy, India’s underground rap & metal scene is coming of age


‘May be performed live’

The song is currently being shared as a voice message on WhatsApp.

“We will be spreading it through other mediums as well,” says Sawhney. “By the end of this month, we are holding a marathon to encourage people to vote. It’s an event where this rap song may be performed live.”

For Hiten, a jazz artist and percussionist, this is his first rap song. But the artist, who is also an established stand-up comedian, actor and singer, says the song was something right up his street.

He reels off its opening lines:

“Yeh election rap hai
2019 general election ke liye
Main India ki public se baat kare eraha hoon
Vote banali, kya bol rahan hoon?
Banali kya?” 

(This is an election rap
for the 2019 general elections
I’m speaking to India’s public
Will you vote? Will you?)

“Rap is basically the relationship between the rapper and the music director, you have to follow the flow and the metering,” says Hiten, who joined the Punjab civil services in 2014.

“The election song is doing so well and it is so satisfying that we been able to create a social message in a manner that it is so widely accepted. Now we are planning to make a lyrical video of the song and then put it up on other social media in the coming days.”


Also read: Move over Gully Boy, this rap song on Modi is shock-and-awe attack on Khan Market wannabes