{"id":3067,"date":"2016-06-27T08:04:35","date_gmt":"2016-06-27T02:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3067"},"modified":"2016-06-27T08:04:35","modified_gmt":"2016-06-27T02:34:35","slug":"achche-din-fanney-khan-gets-a-new-lyricist-the-bjp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=3067","title":{"rendered":"Achche Din! Fanney Khan Gets a New Lyricist: The BJP"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

W<\/span><\/p><\/div>

hat do India and a Bollywood film about a <\/span>starving<\/span><\/a> artist have in common? A dearth of the promised \u201cAchche Din\u201d. <\/span>\n\nLast week, when Atul Manjrekar\u2019s <\/span>Fanney Khan<\/span><\/i>, released a <\/span>song<\/span><\/a> titled \u201cMere Achhe Din Kab Aayenge\u201d, the film crew was unaware that it would incur the wrath of the BJP. Did they not get the memo that Kamal & Co have copyrighted the two most famous words in BJP history?<\/span>\n\nA remake of the Belgian satire <\/span>Everybody\u2019s Famous!<\/span><\/i>, the film has Anil Kapoor playing the titular role of a yesteryear singer, who works as a cab driver but secretly <\/span>dreams<\/span><\/a> of making his daughter a singing celebrity. In the \u201cAchhe Din\u201d song, the lyrics are intended to illustrate a character arc where Kapoor\u2019s Fanney wonders if his unfulfilled dream will ever come true. <\/span>\n\nBut Indian internet users had other plans, and took to exploiting its lyrics to troll PM Narendra Modi\u2019s 2014 election slogan. As we all know, if there is one thing the <\/span>BJP<\/span><\/a> takes seriously, it\u2019s the trolls. Even while the country reels in the aftermath of violence against women and lynchings, to them, the greatest crime ever committed is questioning the veracity of their promises. Even if it\u2019s in the form of an innocent song.<\/span>\n\nYou can probably predict what happened next.<\/span>\n\nJust 10 days after the song released, the film\u2019s makers were forced to pull it down <\/span>because<\/span><\/a> \u201cthe song was getting politicised needlessly\u201d and because \u201cthe producers got a few calls from people in high places\u201d. A new version of the song with a persuasive title was released two days ago. No prizes for guessing the correction: The BJP-approved song is now called \u201cMere Achche Din Ab Aaye Re\u201d. Might as well use it as the party\u2019s <\/span>2019 slogan<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>\n\nManjrekar, of course, has rubbished reports of pressure from the government. He claimed that there were always two versions of the song. Sure. His argument would have been a whole lot more convincing had the original version of the song not been promptly pulled down. But who can blame Manjrekar for wanting to avoid a #FanneyBan or having to release a hostage video, like <\/span>Karan Johar<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Sanjay Leela Bhansali<\/span><\/a>?<\/span>\n\nIt\u2019s not even the first time a film has had to bow before the \u201calleged\u201d demands of the BJP either. Last year, Tamil film <\/span>Mersal<\/span><\/i><\/a> was hauled up for criticising <\/span>GST<\/span><\/a> and PM Modi. The end result? The makers of <\/span>Mersal<\/span><\/i> had to cut out a 2.5-minute sequence, even after the CBFC had cleared it. And, just this week, <\/span>Mission: Impossible Fallout<\/span><\/i> grabbed headlines for censoring the K-word. \u00a0<\/span>\n\n

But who can blame Manjrekar for wanting to avoid a #FanneyBan or having to release a hostage video, like Karan Johar and Sanjay Leela Bhansali?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nIt\u2019s long been clear that any criticism of the government, whether in the movies or other media, is no longer acceptable in our democracy. But if a song about a middle-class cabbie, who like a former chaiwallah, yearns for more, can threaten the BJP\u2019s delicate grasp on the <\/span>national<\/span><\/a> narrative, where do Indian filmmakers go from here? In an industry that is forced to align itself \u00a0with the ruling government\u2019s arbitrary whims, will it become impossible to release any film that stops short of singing its praises? <\/span>\n\nAs the list of BJP-forbidden words, deeds, and thoughts is only growing longer and more absurd, it wouldn\u2019t be surprising if the only films we are left with in 2020 are Akshay Kumar\u2019s greatest <\/span>hits<\/span><\/a>, and the 18th installment of <\/span>Housefull<\/span><\/i>. That and remakes of that great biopic, <\/span>Chalo Jeete Hain<\/span><\/i>. <\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Fanney Khan song \u201cMere Achhe Din Kab Aayenge\u201d is now BJP-approved. The lyrics have been suitably changed to \u201cMere Achche Din Ab Aaye Re\u201d. The party might as well use it as its 2019 slogan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":208,"featured_media":3068,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3114],"tags":[6010,140,2256,390,323,6011,6012,6013,6014,5982,180,3979,2834,1668],"class_list":["post-3067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bollywood","tag-achche-din","tag-anil-kapoor","tag-bjp","tag-cbfc","tag-censorship","tag-fanney-khan","tag-mere-achche-din-ab-aaye-re","tag-mere-achche-din-kab-aayege","tag-mersal","tag-mission-impossible","tag-modi","tag-padmaavat","tag-padmavati","tag-propaganda"],"yoast_head":"\nAchche Din! Fanney Khan Gets a New Lyricist: The BJP<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Fanney Khan song \u201cMere Achhe Din Kab Aayenge\u201d is now BJP-approved. The lyrics have been suitably changed to \u201cMere Achche Din Ab Aaye Re\u201d. The party might as well use it as its 2019 slogan.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3067\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Achche Din! Fanney Khan Gets a New Lyricist: The BJP\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Fanney Khan song \u201cMere Achhe Din Kab Aayenge\u201d is now BJP-approved. The lyrics have been suitably changed to \u201cMere Achche Din Ab Aaye Re\u201d. The party might as well use it as its 2019 slogan.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3067\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-27T02:34:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1533051570.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kahini Iyer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Achche Din! Fanney Khan Gets a New Lyricist: The BJP\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"The Fanney Khan song \u201cMere Achhe Din Kab Aayenge\u201d is now BJP-approved. The lyrics have been suitably changed to \u201cMere Achche Din Ab Aaye Re\u201d. 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