De de vote de: How Bappi-da is Modi-fying his greatest hits

Even the King of Disco must sometimes play second fiddle.

Bappi Lahiri is the BJP candidate from Serampore, an hour outside Kolkata. But on Sunday night at the Serampore stadium, with mill chimneys spewing smoke in front and a gulmohar tree ablaze in red behind, Bappi-da’s main role was to keep the crowd entertained as they waited for the evening’s real star - Narendra Modi.

Luckily, for the BJP, Bappi Lahiri is nothing if not an all-round entertainment package, sunglasses, gold chains and all. The only problem is some of his latest and greatest hits – Ooh lala ooh lala – are not exactly appropriate for a political campaign. The BJP cannot brag about the Dirty Picture while pointing fingers at someone else’s ghotala.

So Bappi-da, never short for a tune, has come up with his own anthem for the BJP gushing about Modi-ji ka chamatkar but not forgetting to give pranaams to Advani-ji and Atal-ji and Rajnath-ji’s dreams.

Very soulfully patriotic but not exactly foot-tapping Tuney Maari Entriyaan. But not to worry. There’s plenty else to choose from Bappi-da’s old repertoire.

In fact, guess what, his Bengali song from years ago in the film Pratidaan actually had lyrics about a lotus blooming in the muck. Gosh! How prophetic is that?

But even for songs that don’t have a lotus in them, no problem. Bappi-da can BJPize anything. The man with the golden touch often accused of ‘borrowing’ from others, now gets to borrow from his own kitty.

Like I am a Disco Dancer. THEN: D se hota hai Dance. I se hota hai Item, S se hota hai Singer, C se hota hai Chorus, O se Orchestra. NOW: B se hota hai Bharatiya. J se hota hai Janata. P se hota hai Party.

He however wisely did not sing the next line – Hello beautiful. What’s your name? Tumhe malum jawani kya hoti hai?

Or De De Pyar De from Sharaabi. THEN: De de pyaar de De de pyaar de pyaar de pyaar de re hamein pyaar de…

NOW: De de pyaar de De de pyaar de pyaar de BJP ko vote de, Bappi-da ko vote de...

And a song just made to order for a crowd waiting for their messiah. Again from Sharaabi.

THEN: Inteha ho gai, intezaar ki Aai na kuchh khabar, mere yaar ki

NOW: Intehaan ho gayi, intezaar ki Aaa gaya Modi ji, pranaam Modi-ji, pranaam Modi ji.

And then obviously not having gotten Modi’s aw shucks, don’t har har me tweet, Bappi Lahiri went har har happy leading the crowd in a Har Har Modi, Ghar Ghar Modi chant.

Not very subtle but hey, it’s Bappi Lahiri.

But for those who still hungered for Jimmy Jimmy or Ooh La La, Bappi-da had reassuring words. “Right now it’s a campaign, I can’t sing everything. But I will sing everything you want AFTER I win.”

Clearly that’s one campaign promise Bappi Lahiri can keep. And for those who think the outsider from Mumbai cannot win the Serampore Lok Sabha seat for the BJP, he had a few choice musical words. Tansen, he reminds the crowd, could make clouds burst with rain. Couldn’t Bappi Lahiri make a lotus bloom in Serampore?

Or translated into more Bappida-esque terms, he said a supporter told him Aapney liya entry, sabko baj gya ghanti.