In Punjab, parties are using music to hardsell their candidates to voters
In the town of Majitha, a 50-car convoy of the Aam Aadmi Party or AAP is headed to an election rally. At the very front is a DJ with a relatively easy gig: spinning just one song which does not require people to pay close attention. "
Jhaadu waala button dabadiyo, Punjabiyon" (Punjabis, hit the voting button for AAP). The song was recorded by an AAP candidate, actor-singer Dev Mann. The party claims that in keeping with its no-frills approach, the production cost was Rs 2,000 (Mann used his brother's recording studio).
"Our music only is such a hit, you can imagine how much of a hit we will be in the elections. Music is in every Punjabi," said Grupreet Singh Waraich, a singer and senior AAP leader.
The Congress is charting similar turf -musical propaganda -with "
Captain di Sarkar", composed by Sneha Khanwalker who handled the music for films like
Gangs Of Wasseypur and
Oye Lucky Lucky Oye. The lyrics were written by popular Bollywood writer Kumaar. The song is accompanied by a music video that hard-sells Captain Amarinder Singh, age 74, as the natural choice of Punjabis. It was reportedly conceptualized by election strategist Prashant Kishor. As "Captain" moved through the town of Lambi people accompanying him did the Bhangra to his theme tune. Captain says that's only natural - "The singers are pretty good and the music is good."
The incumbent Akalis are tuned in too. Their offering is a song called "
Kinney Soney Shair Banatey Bapu Badal Ney", which says Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, age 89, beautified Punjab's cites. His son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal told NDTV, "The music is good and its adds a softer tone to the election."
The irresistible Punjabi
dhol or drum is common to all the songs, as is the claim that
this is the party to back. Take it from me- getting a Punjabi to dance is not tough. Proving to be more than a one-hit wonder? Now that's the tricky part.