With Punjab Assembly polls round the corner, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has posted a video on their official Twitter profile on January 17, Tuesday, titled “Punjab’s future CM is in the home” to announce Bhagwant Mann as the chief ministerial candidate of the party. The video is a spin-off of Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Mast Kalandar’ from the 2007 Bollywood film Heyy Baby.
Punjab’s next CM is in the house!#AAPdaCM pic.twitter.com/E2EIcxwVep
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) January 18, 2022
The Aam Aadmi Party has tried to give the song a comic twist by swapping faces of actors with those of Navjot Singh Sidhu, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and finally, its chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann. Many netizens pointed out how it was misogynist to compare a CM’s chair to a woman.
The 0.39-second video shows all CM contenders dancing around Vidya Balan shown as the CM’s chair. While Punjab’s current CM Charanjit Singh Channi face has been swapped with the protagonist of the movie played by Akshay Kumar, Bhagwant Mann face has been superimposed on that of Shah Rukh Khan in the song. The state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu’s face has been swapped with that of Riteish Deshmukh, who plays the role of Akshay Kumar’s friend in the film.
Additionally, Arvind Kejriwal, the AAP’s leader and Delhi Chief Minister, and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also appear with their faces superimposed on the bodies of Anupam Kher and Boman Irani respectively. The duo has played pivotal roles in the 2007 movie loosely based on the Malayalam film Thoovalsparsham (1990) which is an adaptation of the American film Three Men and a Baby (1987).
Towards the end of the clip, AAP’s candidate Bhagwant Mann’s makes a grand entry. He is warmly greeted by the “people of Punjab” and ultimately wins over the CM’s chair (Vidya Balan).
The original song from the movie can be viewed here:
AAP slammed for objectifying a woman in its latest video promoting Bhagwant Mann
The video did not go down well with many netizens and they slammed the AAP for coming up with such a crass video.
So women are a chair apparently. https://t.co/jeWTTgooeo
— Hasiba | حسيبة | हसीबा 🌈 (@HasibaAmin) January 18, 2022
A political party is portraying a woman as an object(chair) that has to be acquired, and certain pseudo-liberals do not have a problem with this, since it’s AAP.#Hypocrites https://t.co/cb7HSnIMdl
— Mayank Saxena (@mayank_sxn) January 18, 2022
Dear, @ArvindKejriwal your party SM is openly objectifying women here. SHAMEFUL! https://t.co/hIQjSWidEO
— Drink water. (@NotAfangirll_) January 18, 2022
Even the ‘liberals’ were triggered with the video.
Women are not objects. This is offensive. And not funny.. unless you are a party full of sexist men … oh wait..
— Vidya (@VidyaKrishnan) January 18, 2022
PSA from Delhi voter to Punjab voters: Galti se bhi @AamAadmiParty ko vote mat de dena… bahut pachtaoge. Humari tarah. https://t.co/cmAYvQYHfC
However, what is most amusing is that in the movie, Vidya Balan ultimately returns to Akshay Kumar (portrayed by Channi) and not Shah Rukh Khan, who is being portrayed as Bhagwant Mann. Highlighting this fact, many Netizens quipped that like in the movie Shah Rukh Khan only makes a cameo appearance and it is Akshay Kumar (shown as Punjab’s current CM Charanjit Singh Channi) who actually wins over Vidya Balan, shown as the CM’s chair, in the end, Channi will retain his power in the state.
Misogyny in the tweet comparing woman with CM Chair aside
— Scar (@Scar3rd) January 18, 2022
So you are saying that in the end Channi will again become CM, like in movie in end Vidya Balan goes with Akshay Kumar 😹
Last mien Akshay Kumar(Channi) ko Vidya Balan(CM Chair) mil jaati hai. Ad bnane se pehle ye nhi socha chomuon ne!
— Al Pacino | एल पचिनो (@thispacino) January 18, 2022
SRK(Bhagwant Mann) ka guest appearance tha.
Bhagwant Mann named as party’s chief ministerial candidate for Punjab assembly polls
Earlier in the day, Arvind Kejriwal announced that his party would fight the upcoming assembly polls in the state with Bhagwant Mann as the CM face. Bhagwant Mann is AAP Punjab president and a member of parliament from the Sangrur constituency.
Kejriwal ascribed the party’s decision to go ahead with Mann as the chief ministerial candidate to an unusual referendum, in the form of televote asking people to vote for their choice of leader as the party’s CM candidate.
People were asked to use their phones and Whatsapp to vote for their preferred candidate. More than 93 per cent of the people who voted their choice opted for Bhagwant Mann, Arvind Kejriwal told reporters.
