What can be a possibly better way of spreading awareness to stay safe from COVID-19 than using an art form? That is exactly what a few rappers from Mumbai's Dharavi (Asia's largest slums) did. The track titled Stay Home Stay Safe which marks the collaboration of MC Altaf, 7Bantaiz and Dopeadelicz, and features some of Bollywood's biggest stars including Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Suniel Shetty and Dia Mirza. As the name suggests, the song is about the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the ways to stay safe. Produced by rapper Divine's Gully Gang Entertainment, the track is a perfect amalgamation of powerful lyrics ( in Hindi, Marathi and Tamil) and a mass appeal, which have a lasting impact and rightly cater to the sensibilities of almost everyone. We also got a glimpse of the Bollywood stars lip-syncing to the sternly-written rap. The video also stars Marathi actor Atul Kulkarni.
The description of the video's official YouTube channel described Stay Home, Stay Safe as "more than just a message to the people of the country. It is an idea, a clarion call to unify everyone in the country for a common cause, to fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic. Through this multi lingual track and video, we aim to raise awareness about COVID-19, it's symptoms, precautions and challenges, specifically in densely populated areas, especially in Mumbai, with the words coming straight from Dharavi's very own MC Altaf, 7Bantaiz and Dopeadelicz."
Check out the track here:
Mumbai's Dharavi is one of the hot spots of COVID-19. Many of the regions in Dharavi were classified as "containment zones" according to Mumbai's civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municpial Corporation (BMC). According to officials, the use of community toilets in Dharavi was attributed as one of the primary factors that might have led to a sudden rise in the number of confirmed cases in the area.
The novel coronavirus or COVID-19 originated in a vet market in Wuhan (China) late last year and was declared a pandemic by the WHO (World Health Organisation) in March this year. In the wake of the ongoing pandemic, nationwide lockdowns were imposed in countries across the world. In India, the lockdown was imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 25 and it has been extended till May 17. This is the third leg of the nationwide lockdown imposed in India.
