Uttarpara, April 14: In the legendary Satyajit Ray’s film, Goopy Gayen, Bagha Bayen, there lived two innocent men (Goopy and Bagha), a benevolent and friendly bhooter raja (king of the ghosts) and an evil raja of Halla. The songs in the film, composed by Ray himself, are still popular. Anup Ghoshal, who sung those songs, now after more than 40 years uses them to win over his constituency in Uttarpara.
In some places Anup has even taken the liberty to tweak the lyrics to suit his purpose. For example when he sings, bhooter raja dilo bor, jobor jobor teen bor (the god of ghosts had granted three boons to the duo) he describes the three boons as: Mamata giving him a chance to contest the elections, the alliance and the fact that the evil will soon be replaced by the good.
And when he sings, Ek je chhilo raja ,taar bhari dukho (once upon a time there was a king, who is extremely saddened now), Anup goes on to explain to the public, “I am sure you all know why the king is sad, because Mamata Banerjee is going to replace him soon at the Writers’ Building. So all of you join in and help me to bring Didi to power.”
The singer’s constituency is far from his residence, so he is really working hard to be in Uttarpara daily, from morning till sometimes midnight. He confesses he barely has time for anything else like his usual riyaaz or shows. A tea lover, he carries with him a couple of flasks with hot tea, some cookies and puffed rice, “as there is practically no time to take a break”. He sounds rather hoarse as well, “Dada can’t help it, sometimes he has to sing even louder as the crowd is very large,” says Sandip Das, who is managing his campaigns. But why has Anup Ghoshal confined himself to only these songs from Ray’s films? Says daughter Anupama who has been with her father during his campaigns along with her sister, “Why not? These songs are still very well-liked, they made my father popular, the lyrics suit the mood and the people here wanted him to sing these songs.”
Party insiders, however, confess that the singer-turned-politician is still a novice in his new role. He still needs to learn the language of a neta. On his part, Anup logics, “The people here are very receptive to my singing out to them”. He adds that like him everybody else understands the language of music.
However, there can be no second thoughts that Anup is trying his best to get into a politician’s garb — a cotton kurta, with a party stole, jeep with party symbol cut-outs and of course party workers who join him in bikes, bicycles, or even foot. He accepts most suggestions that might just could put him in the right frame of affairs, be it a pose that the photographers demand or a profile that the party workers recommend.
As Anup moves from one street to another in Uttarpara, he never stops belting out songs for “my people”. The children and women clap in glee from balcony and rooftops while casual by-standers join him in his singing. In fact some even ask him to sing out their favourite songs from the chosen films.
With barely any experience in politics what is it that compelled Anup Ghoshal to agree to contest as a candidate for the Trinamool Congress party? The answer is a very straight forward one — it was difficult to resist the Trinamool Congress leader when she offered him a place in her movement. Praising Mamata Banerjee, he states that he has known her for two decades and has always held her in high esteem because of her ‘honesty and integrity’.
A believer, Anup started his campaigns on March 22 by visiting a Kali temple at Konnagar. Even there he sang a devotional song just the way he falls back on them sometimes during his campaigns. On Monday too, he suddenly decided to reach the court to file his nomination half an hour earlier than planned because his guru told him what the auspicious time was.
This is not the first time that a TC candidate is singing his way to the ballot. During the 2009, parliamentary, elections Kabir Suman had resorted to his songs and made it to become an MP. With the elections a few weeks away, it will be worth watching if Anup too wins like his songs.
——–Agencies