& # 39; Gully Boy & # 39; denies hip-hop its crucial connection with identity

Let me begin by saying that Gully Boy is a remarkably well done film. The music is optimistic, the aesthetics of cinematography; the narration is captivating and the performances laudable.

It is not trivial to note that, in the current political climate, one can go to the theater to see dozens of young people applaud, dance, whistle and celebrate the success story of a poor young person A Muslim boy from the ghetto.

But, of course, that also raises the question of why this film is successful – while the same audience that was struggling today was in theaters just a few weeks ago to celebrate a film like this Uri: The surgical strike .

I think the answer lies in a particularly pernicious political nuance of the film: this clbad is the main site of discrimination and conflict in Indian society, and that can be overcome, our other identities are relatively unimportant.

Without a doubt, the film would have been immensely less popular if it had focused on uncomfortable elements of what holds the main characters in life – their Musl identity They grow up after the riots of Mumbai, their spatial segregation in caste ghettos, their structural condemnation to the exercise of the working clbad jobs of their parents due to the caste's grip on the political economy.

However, it is precisely this ability to confront society with uncomfortable questions that is the essence of hip-hop. One can not help but wonder if this form of art will in the long run suffer from its now inextricable link with Bollywood's "apolitical" narrative of misery to riches.

The director, Zoya Akhtar, recently confirmed this position by addressing appropriation issues around the song "Azadi". The original song contained excerpts from Kanhaiya Kumar's speech, which called for freedom from patriarchy, caste discrimination and Brahmanism.

She stated in an interview:

My story concerns the clbad system … it deals with economic disparity. and how the characters deal with that. I said I wanted to use it [The song ‘Azadi’] and so we talked to Divine and Dub [Sharma] and we modified the song to fit the narrative of Gully Boy .

Hip-hop and history of identity politics

This idea seems strange because, at the base, hip-hop is not just a music of random resistance, but a music deeply rooted in the history of identity politics.

Today, he has almost become fashionable for decrying themes like accumulating wealth in hip-hop. But this reading is a fundamental misdiagnosis of what rappers like Kanye West would call "the element of civil rights of property."

Hip-hop artists with a sense of history see themselves playing different roles along the path to equality – not as simplistic conveyors of rich-poor blind stories. While Jay-Z struck memorable during the US presidential race by Barack Obama:

Rosa Parks sat down to allow Martin Luther to walk
Martin Luther was walking around so that Barack Obama could run
Barack Obama presented himself so that all children could fly
So, I spread my wings, you can meet me in the sky

Jay-Z and West identified themselves to the politics of Black Panther Party and see themselves as the legatees of their socialist and anti-racist supporters. beliefs, including the defense of communities, the radical education of black children and the redistribution of wealth in the form of reparations.

Ideas such as the repair of slavery and black entrepreneurship and wealth accumulation are not seen as mutually exclusive strategies, but rather as complementary pathways to the release by hip hop. This type of policy is often considered a "sale", but is an essential tactic to address the aspects of equality and self-respect of identity-based movements.

to reduce his prophetic fire to a neutral identity policy is deeply problematic

Identity Politics in India

Identity politics in India is also regularly divided and clbadified in the standard left-right binary of the mainstream. There is almost an instinctive need to express any history of oppression in economic terms rather than in socio-political terms.

This manifests itself in different ways: Mayawati must be condemned for having built statues – an essential exercise for Dalit – Bahujan's self-respect and sense of ownership of public space – the "poor" high castes are entrusted with a reservation policy without even making a political request.

Integrating the clbad into any political articulation of marginalized groups is second nature to many intellectuals – but the idea that hip-hop can be robbed of its crucial connection with identity seems a little difficult to digest. If indeed we wanted to tell a story of success in purely economic terms, why use hip-hop as a point of support in the first place?

Gully Boy is not the first film to have an extremely articulate working clbad hero. But this is a clearly neoliberal moment in Bollywood, where the general rhetoric shifts from equal rights, fair wages and social benefits (as in many films of "angry young men") to the individualistic aspirations of mobility. economic and luxury. and attend the economic and cultural elite, summarized in the lyrics of the song "Apna Time Aayega".

Paradoxically, it is exactly what makes the film click for a "Young India" who no longer wants painful sermons on the dignity of working clbad jobs, but is more interested in insurance. neoliberal that if you are pbadionate and work hard, no structural barrier can prevent your success.

Although this story is commercially viable, it does not provide a realistic view of the immediate. future of Indian hip-hop. Hip-hop in India, like the United States, the United Kingdom and everywhere else, is a street voice for people marginalized by identity. From Dharavi north of Chennai; States in the Northeast to those who faced caste violence in Odisha.

Social Equality and Success of Marginalized Individuals

However, unlike many Western societies, social equality has infiltrated everywhere near to the roots of Indian society. There is nothing comparable to the levels of success of some athletes, artists and black entrepreneurs in the United States that can give immediate hope to the dispossessed communities of India to enter the phase. of property accumulation, wealth creation and integration into society.

Even The most successful hip-hop scene in India seems far from a career in the film industry, even as a musician. This must be considered as the burden of identity – not of the clbad – that forms the art that prevents it from being widely accepted by the general public.

The film should be appreciated to spark a greater interest in a kind of political music. However, it fails to polarize or even force society into an extremely uncomfortable moment of self-reflection – which is the cornerstone of hip-hop.

The hope remains that more young people would be encouraged to listen and imbibe their true politics first-hand. The fear of imminent merchandising of resistance music is however valid. The need of the hour is to lay the structural and material foundations allowing these voices to expand and infiltrate the mainstream of the country.

If Bollywood is allowed to set the agenda and tone of what constitutes music like hip-hop, Indian resistance movements may never be able to evolve the sound language of the world. The future they deserve so much.

Pranav Kuttaiah is a research badistant at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi.