It’s a catchy beat that’s uniting the peaceful anti-CAA/NRC protests, spearheaded by the young, across India. Ironically, it’s Italian in origin. Bella Ciao , an Italian folk song was adopted as an anti fascist anthem and used by the Italian partisans, 1943-1945, during the Italian Resistance. Since then it has gone through many versions and has been been used in several films, shows as well as protest movements across the world. Ironically, for the Indian millennials who have been singing its bhartiya versions various protest sites, the inspiration has come from the one seen and heard recently in the Spanish Netflix series Money Heist .
A Hindi version of the song played out last week in the Gurugram protests. Another Hindi version written by Ramneek Singh, Gaurav Tripathi, Puneet Sharma and Manish Saxena kept the energy going at the Occupy Gateway protests in Mumbai on January 6. It exhorted the young to keep the flames of revolution burning ( Inquilab ki mashaal jalao ) with one of the stanzas saying: “ Aaya ek Nazi, laaya NRC, Bola pehchaan karwao warna jao jao jao (A Nazi came and brought in NRC, asked us to show identity papers or leave).
In fact the Indian versions go back to various protests, a Bengali one three months back at the Jadavpur University protests , asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to get away from West Bengal. Yet another sprung up during JNU fee hike protests . A slow version, dealing with the Kashmir issue, has also been doing the rounds online.
Lyricist Swanand Kikire says he had been hearing it in several protests through the years. He likens it to We shall overcome , a song of eternal hope, courage and strength. Then it disappeared and has now sprung up in popular consciousness again because of Money Heist .
What makes the song work? “The tune itself has the resonance of resistance and rebellion and reaches straight to the heart. Hearing it and singing it together does something to you if you are out there on the streets protesting,” he says, irrespective of the language it is in.
Lyricist Vayu attributes its success to the catchy beat and the embedded messaging —of taking on and speaking out against hardships and authoritarianism.
According to Mr. Sharma, the lyricist who co-wrote the version sung in Mumbai, it’s a classic choir composition: “The more voices sing it, the more beautiful it becomes. It sounds like a rousing marching song when sung by a big group.” Vayu, however, has the last word on its abiding influence and inspiration: “Beauty of art is that it can take any form and meaning.” In other words: “Vive le Bella Ciao, Vive le Resistance”.
Published - January 07, 2020 11:12 pm IST
