Congress 'Jai Ho' campaign

It made a millionaire out of the slumdogs and the song ‘Jai Ho’ became an anthem of sorts in a country that thrives on supporting underdogs. As the pitch builds up for the Lok Sabha 2009 elections, the Congress party is hoping it will be able to rake in a rich haul in India’s political Oscars, by acquiring the rights of the song. This month, the political version of ‘Jai Ho’ complete with adapted lyrics and the Congress message dominated the airwaves for four consecutive days, to announce the beginning of the campaign. Amitava Mitra, director - Delhi, Percept/H, the agency which made the films says that ‘Jai Ho’ is a curtain raiser for the Congress poll campaign and will play again before the close of the campaigning. “Jai Ho is like a war cry, but has a positive association,” he says.

Using the ‘Jai Ho’ soundtrack, three 60-seconder films have been made. The Congress slogan ‘Aam Aadmi Ke Badta Kadam, Har Kadam Par Bharat Buland’ was also woven into the song. To re-write the lyrics, renowned poet Ashok Chakradhar was roped in. Chakradhar says that the idea was to communicate the Congress message through the lyrics. “Here it’s not poetry, but a message to woo the voters. Therefore, even the words have been kept to bare minimum for impact,” says Chakradhar, who previously had produced a film in 1985 for the centenary celebrations of Congress. On the lyrics, Chakradhar says lines like ‘Kadam Hum Badathe Chale’ in the song was to encapsulate the work done so far. “It’s not India Shining because the films and lyrics talk about moving towards the objective,” he says referring to a campaign by rivals NDA in the 2004 general elections.

The three films focus on themes like heritage of the party and talking about the past leaders, achievements like the nuclear deal, Chandrayaan project and on schemes like the NREGS and education. In the Chandrayaan 60-second spot, the film is a report card of Congress achievements with visuals of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh interspersed with images of rural employment, education, urban development and even a mention of the nuclear deal. The film made by Percept/H uses footage from the Bharat Nirman campaign which was handled by the agency for the past two years. Interestingly ‘Jai Ho’ song was one of the ideas mooted by Percept/H among other filmy ideas which found favour with the Congress.