Giving background score to the revolution: A silent partner to the Gen Z protest comes into its own | Hindustan Times

Salman Khan said it first on July 23 during the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) protests, to ask activist Sonam Wangchuk to end his hunger strike. Leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi picked it up and carried a poster with it on October 6 in a protest that called for the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). Somewhere between these two dates, a 22-year-old undergraduate student in New Delhi picked up the line, added new stanzas and composed a new track on FL Studio using Suno AI and audio plug-ins. Now, every time you see a reel with a visual of the youth-dominated protests that took place over the weekend, chances are this song is playing in the background.‘Gyanesh, It’s Done Bro’, a catchy rap track with a hook line has been used in over 3,800 reels since its release on September 25, each with varying views — one has been seen 41,700 times, another 22 lakh times. The track joins a clutch of songs that form the soundtrack to the ongoing protests against the CEC Gyanesh Kumar, and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, giving a wholly Gen Z twist to the genre of the protest song: no longer one that is only sung or chanted by marching protestors; it is referential; released across social media platforms including Instagram, YouTube or Spotify; modifiable enough to fit a 10-second or a minute-long reel, post or story; shareable and viral. “‘It’s done bro’ was trending everywhere. I thought let’s integrate with ‘Gyanesh’. It might make a catchy hook,” said the composer of the song, who goes by the handle Bluflamë on Instagram and Amit Kumar on music platform, Spotify. (Both are pseudonyms designed to protect his anonymity.)“I built the chorus around ‘It’s done bro’ to make it catchy and memorable, while using the verses to convey the seriousness of the issue and people’s frustration. The lyrics had to be relatable, rhythmic and easy to understand,” he said.The function of a meme — a collection of words, visuals and/or music with a hook — is to be universalised. The meme works because it is endlessly self-referential. It does not necessarily gather further meaning, but it does lend itself to further utilisation. For the protests, ‘It’s done bro’ was one of the most popular memes that Bluflame’s track recirculated, albeit as a song, to lodge — and soundtrack — protest.“I belong to the unheard clan, and I make music for the unheard, the people surviving broken systems. My music comes from the very people whose stories often go unheard,” Bluflamë said. Take “Tax”, a song composed by hip hop artist Yashraj Mehra — popular as Yashraj — on July 30, which has seen a revival in the recent protests. Used in 10,000 reels since its release (Instagram does not track its usage in posts and stories), ‘Tax’ also forms the perfect backdrop to the currently popular ‘I know how I love’ meme. Though the song talks of vote chori (a popular slogan of the July protests that references the notion that the Special Intensive Revision process stole votes because names were dropped from the electoral rolls), its hook line, “where is my tax money?” has been used repeatedly across reels, likely because it is a question that demands accountability, much like those posting visuals of the CEC and SIR protests.Other songs like ‘Saheb’, written and released in 2024, have also found a new life in the current crop of protest videos, even as its writer and composer, Rajesh Nirmal continues to create new work inspired by Gen Z protestors.‘Saheb’, written by Nirmal before the 2024 Lok Sabha election, was released in seven different languages, including Kannada and Assamese. It has since garnered lakhs of views on YouTube. “I think the word, 'saheb', is culturally specific and relatable. We Indians have a tendency to assume that a position of power automatically makes the person occupying it better than the common man. It’s a psychology I am deeply familiar with, especially where I hail from, in Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh),” said Nirmal. Aditi Sharma, who sang the song in Hindi pointed out that she also worked on other tracks (some of which were written by Nirmal) as part of the Janta Radio project, including one specifically on the issue of votes. Yet it is ‘Saheb’ that seems to have caught on in the current cycle of protest reels. “Protest music has always served the same purpose: to call out power imbalances and the injustices around us. The most viral protest songs arrive at the right moment, speak a language people understand, and make a political reality feel personal. But above all, they must articulate a truth people recognise. Released during the peak madness of the 2024 election, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appeared visibly weaker than in 2014 and 2019, ‘Saheb’ gave a tune to an emotion that common people could feel but couldn't articulate, without tying itself to any one party,” Sharma, a political consultant, said.A 30-second clip of the track has been used in over 2,700 reels in the current protests, none of which has anything to do with the 2024 elections.The song offers a tongue-in-cheek approach to a person in a position of power, Nirmal said. “It’s beyond ideology, and touches upon the basic question of survival.”But writing the background score to the revolution comes with its own consequences. Nirmal, a scriptwriter in the Hindi film industry, said some collaborators did not want his name associated with projects on account of his political work. Bluflamë has gone to great lengths to remain anonymous, including using AI to generate the vocals. "I have received numerous threats and abusive messages in my Direct Messages… individuals have become exceptionally aggressive and directed abuse towards both my family and myself,” he said. But that won’t stop him, he said. The call of the reel is stronger.