Ahead of elections in India, political parties have seemed to have caught the Gully Boy fever. As the BJP and the Congress continue to slug it out on the political stage with a series of rallies and press conferences, they have now taken the fight to the pop-culture arena and have released rap videos of their top leaders – Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi.
The two parties are trying to use every possible way to lure voters, especially the youth who have found a new love for rap with the release of the recent Ranveer Singh-starrer Gully Boy.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took the lead by releasing a video targeting Rahul Gandhi with the Azaadi song from Gully Boy. Interestingly, the original song begins with some of the controversial slogans raised at JNU in February 2016.
While @RahulGandhi will stay up all night wondering what new lies to peddle tomorrow morning, we leave you with this goal for 2019.
— BJP (@BJP4India) February 8, 2019
Have a happy friday night, people! :) pic.twitter.com/WOXOJ1QPYO
The Congress’ official handle hit back with a video of their own targeting Narendra Modi.
डर के आगे आज़ादी। #Azadi pic.twitter.com/WGHw3Q7Ndo
— Congress (@INCIndia) February 8, 2019
The BJP even went to the extent of creating an original track called 'Banda apna sahi hai' – which translates to "Our man is right.” The BJP's 2 minutes, 38 seconds song dedicated to Modi highlights the achievements of his government and speaks on significant events like the surgical strike.
The rap India had to wait for decades to tap!
— BJP (@BJP4India) February 13, 2019
“Banda Apna Sahi Hai...
बंदा अपना सही है...”
Download from https://t.co/miwYXnQEaq pic.twitter.com/Dpo83b0YCb
Shortly after, the Congress followed suit and released a video on Rahul Gandhi – a compilation of the Congress chief's images played to the latest rap sensation 'Apna time aayega' (Our time will come).
Apna
— Keshav Chand Yadav (@keshavyadaviyc) February 5, 2019
Time
Aayega! #RahulGandhiforPM pic.twitter.com/sEpeJrIOQ9
Since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the two parties have also been using memes on social media to take potshots at each other.
Directed by Zoya Akhtar and produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar under the banner of Excel Entertainment, the film Gully Boy is a story inspired by the slum rappers of Dharavi and is loosely inspired by the life of rapper Divine. It stars Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt and Kalki Koechlin and released on February 14.
(With IANS inputs)