Delhi Poll: Pappu, Rock on song in Delhi Assembly election

Delhi poll body to use popular song from Farhan Akhtar's hit film to woo young urban voters

Pappu can rock sala. And rock he will to the popular Rock On number, "Socha Nahi to Socho Abhi" that will be used to woo the notoriously inert young urban voter during this General Election.

While the election commission in Delhi has come up with the idea and even approached musician AR Rahman to spread awareness about exercising voting rights, Maharashtra, the home of Bollywood, will go the conventional way. Some other states, however, are likely to follow Delhi's footsteps.

"During the Assembly election in Delhi we had used the track 'Pappu can't vote sala', which became hugely popular and its success was reflected in the whopping 60 per cent voter turnout on the polling date."

"But this time we are concerned about the other 40 per cent voters who didn't exercise their right. We want them to vote this time," said Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Satbir Silas Bedi.

Though "Socha Nahi" is a popular song, especially among the educated young voters in Delhi, it wasn't the poll body's first choice. The commission wanted to use "Jai Ho", the AR Rahman composition from the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. But as the song was not reusable, the commission rejected it. It then approached Rahman for other numbers. But as the composer was too busy, the election commission started looking for more options.

"The original Pappu song had been composed by AR Rahman (in the film Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na) and he had allowed us to use it for our campaign. So this time too we had contacted Rahman to endorse another song for us. But he was busy. Thus, we are planning to base our awareness campaign on 'Socha Nahi to Socho Abhi' from Farhan Akhtar's movie Rock On," said Bedi.

Unlike the Congress Party, which has acquired the copyright of the song "Jai Ho", the Delhi Election Commission has decided not to buy the copyright of the Rock On number. "Once we rewrite the lyrics of the song, we will ask its music director to let us use it. I am sure he will agree in the national cause," said Bedi.

While Delhi voters will get to rock to Bollywood tracks, the Maharashtra election commission is sticking to traditional methods of campaigning. Debashish Chakrabarty, Maharashtra Chief Electorate Officer, told MiD DAY on phone from Mumbai that his department will use various modes of advertisement including FM radio channels and television but not depend on Bollywood.

"We have never experimented with Bollywood songs. In Mumbai and its suburbs, Bollywood stars and songs are a part of everyday life. So, the impact of a song may not be as effective here as it is in Delhi. For the forthcoming General Election at least, we will follow conventional methods. But following the Delhi campaign, we may experiment during the Maharashtra Assembly election to be held in October-November, 2009," said Chakrabarty.

Meanwhile, Pappu, the iconic character of the Delhi Assembly election, too is getting ready for a facelift. Bedi, who believes that the increase of about 15-17 per cent votes in the Delhi Assembly election was because of the popular song campaign, said that her office is considering to coin a sequel. "The new lyrics will be like, 'tum Pappu kyun bane (why did you become Pappu)," said Bedi.