NDTV : Manike Mage Hithe (in my heart), a Sinhala song from Sri Lanka, recently became an Internet sensation in India, despite most people not understanding its lyrics. From covers to background music, everyone, including Bollywood celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan and Tiger Shroff, hopped on to it. Now the song has been repurposed for Mamata Banerjee’s campaign to win a crucial byelection in Bengal.
A father-daughter duo have remixed the chartbuster into a tribute to the West Bengal Chief Minister, who has to win the September 30 Bhabanipore bypolls to keep her job . Within a week of its release, the Bengali version has become a hit on YouTube. The duo changed the original lyrics — substituting “Manike Mage Hithe” with “Ma, Maati Maanush Hitey (for the sake of mother, motherland and people)” — but retaining the background score.
Rajesh Chakraborty, who came up with the Bengali version with his daughter Aparajita, shared the video on his Facebook page
The song has been released on social media just days before Ms Banerjee’s bypoll contest. The makers hope it will be as popular as Lankan singer Yohani Diloka De Silva’s original.