Lyrical Hardsell

The Congress retorts in the same tune: Jab woh gaana bajaya/Enron phir se le aaya/Sab ko ulloo banaaya woh/Enron se letter laaye/Phir bhi kuchh na kar paaye/Logon se muh chhupaya woh/Ab yudh kaise jeetein, O Ramji...(When they made a big song and dance, brought back Enron once again and fooled everyone. Went to the extent of getting a letter from Enron, yet could not do anything except to hide one's own face in shame, now how will you win this battle). You can almost imagine Madhuri Dixit swinging her pelvis and flashing that million dollar smile.

It's war out there in Maharashtra—a creative war of parodies. Says state BJP Secretary Atul Bhatkhalkar: "We had almost 50 years of raw material to compose songs from while the Congress could use stuff only for a year's Shiv Sena-BJP rule." The BJP and Shiv Sena came out with their cassettes first. But, says Gurunath Kulkarni, general secretary of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), "We've hit back at them song-for-song, tune-fortune and have definitely come out toppers. If they come up with something else, we'll have answers for that as well."

The Congress is keeping the name of the lyricist a secret. The BJP's cassette is produced by Vivek Apte, co-promoter of Market Missionaries (MM), an audiovisual unit catering mainly to advertising agencies. MM has also made a two-minute film for the BJP to be shown in cinema theatres all over the country. The first part deals with the failure of the Congress regime, and the second about how the BJP will solve every crisis facing the nation.

While the Shiv Sena Top 13 tape begins by thanking people for bringing in the miraculous Shivshahi regime and exhorts them to overthrow 50 years of corruption, the Congress cassette too has a 30-second speech about how the Congress stands for security, stability and secularism. To the tunes of Kya ada kya jalwe tere Paro from the film Shastra, the Shiv Sena Top 13 accuses: "Kya diya Congress ne mere yaaron/Desh ke tukre kar diye hazaaron/Bechenge yeh desh/Unko vote na dalo..." (What has Congress given you people: divided the country in thousands of pieces, they'll sell the country, don't vote for them). Congress Panja Hits retaliates with the 1942: A Love Story hit Ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga... "O Shivshahi kya ayee gajab ho gaya/ Chhute saare gunehgaar/Ban gaya unka karobar/Kare bijlee and -hakar/ Kua se paani bhi behaal/Lut gaya saare kisan bhaiya dhan ke bina O..." (In Shiv Sena's regime, the guilty have gone scot-free and set up thriving businesses, electricity has vanished, there's no water, farmers have been looted).

The Maharashtra BJP has spent over Rs 1 lakh to make 10,000 copies of its BJP Made for India cassettes. "We'll distribute the tapes to all our constituencies. Our main target audience is the lower and the lower middle-class people," says Bhatkhalkar. "However, thanks to the Election Commission rules, we can't overdo it in distribution as, unlike previous elections, these cassettes won't be allowed to be played at the paan shops." Shiv Sena too has planned an equal number of cassettes to distributed in the constituencies. The Congress is giving 100 tapes to each of its candidates. Says Gurunath Kulkarni: "We don't need to distribute our cassettes in large volumes. Congress is an organised party with grassroot workers in every taluka. The candidates themselves may replicate the cassettes, if they need more."

All fun and games, sure, but the biting sarcasm often strays into the realm of the vulgar. Consider a Congress song Barkha baahar ayee (Barkha comes out), obviously talking about Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde's alleged weak spot for Barkha, the reigning Tamasha queen from Baramati, Sharad Pawar's constituency. The song goes: "Amma dekh, tera munde bigda jaye..." with a passionate and wistful Oh Barkha!" No translations needed. Clearly, subtlety is the first casualty in the music wars.