Bappi Lahiri’s superhit song “Jimmy Jimmy Aaja Aaja” from 1982 movie “Disco Dancer” is now a subtle call for defiance in China where entire megacities continue to face lockdowns under Covid Zero regime, news agency PTI said in a report.
People have taken to the song to express their frustration with the authorities handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns. In Douyin, the Chinese name for TikTok, the song composed by Lahiri and sung by Parvati Khan is sung in Mandarin “Jie mi, jie mi” which loosely translates to ‘Give me rice, give me rice’.
People in these videos mock the authorities by holding up empty vessels to show how the citizens are deprived of essential food items during the lockdowns.
The videos have escaped the attention of Chinese censorship authorities as the videos are still available on the platform.
Bollywood and Indian cinema are popular in China and has been popular since the 1950s and 60s. Recent films like “3 Idiots”, “Secret Superstar”, “Hindi Medium”, “Dangal” and “Andhadhun” also performed well in the Chinese box office.
Bappi Lahiri’s cult hit has been incorporated into a soft protest song in China in a smart manner to highlight the people’s fight against Covid Zero policy which has cut China off from the rest of the world.
Cities like Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Datong, Xining, Nanjing, Xian, Guangzhou and Wuhan remain in full or partial lockdown as China reported more than 2,500 cases on Monday. Chinese authorities have cracked down on dissent amid the lockdown and people also have taken steps to escape the restrictions.
