In the latest addition to the Sonu song, another version has surfaced here. The song was produced by the Odisha LIVE Web network. It was sung in a satirical manner by a group headed by comedian Bal Krishna. Through the song, the team tried to present different situations in the Capital in a humorous manner. It was uploaded on Youtube and Facebook October 6 and many people have appreciated the song. It has been watched more than nine thousand times
ARINDAM GANGULY, OP
BHUBANESWAR: After RJ Malishka’s Sonu Song went viral on the web, many cities created their own versions of the track in their own languages – Gujarati, Bhojpuri, Punjabi and Bengali – with each version raising issues that related to life in their respective cities. Not to be left behind, Orissa created its own version of ‘Sonu’ with the objectiveof highlighting the salient aspects of Oriya culture. And, it’s fun time here too. The Marathi version of ‘Sonu Song’ mocks Mumbai’s municipal authorities over the sorry state of the city’s potholed roads. The Oriya versions use the song in many ways right from promoting the cultural richness of the state, winning over voters in elections, and by way of promoting a movie.
The many versions of the Sonu song, originally composed and sung by Kshirsagar that have already created a frenzy on the net, are now a rage among the youths in Orissa, and they are energetically using it as a tool to create entertainment packages. The original Sonu Song had become a hit after RJ Malishka made a song on the Shiv Sena-led Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in the wake of the monsoon havoc in the metropolis, and mockingly explaining the plight of the common man during the rainy season. After the song viral on social media, many versions in many languages came out, adding to the popularity of the song. Fittingly and predictably, the song was extensively used by the student candidates in the recent college union elections here, as they tried every trick in the trade to draw the student voters’ attention to them. This apart, one of the song versions was also used in the recently-released Oriya movie Kabula Barabula Searching Laila, where actor Anubhav Mohanty acted it out. In another version, the group called Story Lab created a song that depicts the cultural heritage of the state.
In the latest addition to this song, another version has surfaced here. The song’s name, though, has changed — to Meena song. The song was produced by the Odisha LIVE Web network. It was sung in a satirical manner by a group headed by comedian Bal Krishna. Through the song, the team tried to present different situations in the capital in a humorous manner. It was uploaded on you tube and FB October 6 and many people have appreciated the song. It has been watched more than one thousand times in youtube and eight thousand times in Facebook. Nilambar Rath, CEO of Odisha LIVE told Orissa POSTthat the song was produced under the web comedy series titled Chidiaakhana, wherein “we create small comedy gigs for entertainment.” The theme of such gigs will be politics, corruption, scandals etc, and all will be presented in a funny manner. The main aim was to provide clean entertainment. “Nowadays, video content can be created through many ways. Quality and what the audience is grabbing from the content are crucial. Through this web series, we are trying to present comedy in an entertaining way.”
Earlier, the Sonu song was used also by candidates of the Ramadevi women’s university for campaign purpose. Mobile videos of these songs shared through WhatsApp and other messaging apps were swarming the campuses and they have become a noticeable trend in this year’s college polls campaign. Recently, alleged rapist and Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Singh has also become a subject of parodies of the Sonu Song. The song has also become a popular tool for protests. Such videos were made by people across Haryana and Punjab, all these revolving around a similar theme, lampooning Singh and blaming him for “fooling” his followers and for his allegedly illicit activities.