Spoken word poetry has garnered a pretty significant following in India in the last few years. While there are a few faces that have come to be associated with the spoken word scene in India, especially since its growing online presence, several celebrities have also taken the stage to try their hand in this art. The most recent one to have joined this list is actor Nakuul Mehta.
‘#TooMuchDemocracy’ is available on Kommune India’s YouTube channel.
The roughly 27-minute long video, #TooMuchDemocracy, was released on 25th January 2021, on the eve of India’s 72nd Republic Day. It is a social commentary that compiles 12 spoken word poems written by Ajay Singh and performed by Mehta which draw attention to numerous incidents that deserved outrage over the last year, and also a few other broader issues that plague humanity.
“If a poem is a naked person, 12 make a naked country” reads one of the posters promoting the video. The poems are rich in metaphors and personification, and have also used several mythological references to explicate the current state of democracy and people in India.
The first in the lineup is “Giddh” which talks about the death of the artist, how several forces in society have preyed upon artists, slowly killing their creativity and expression, and in essence their soul too.
“Gandhari” highlights that we may get rid of the masks on our faces eventually but questions if the blinds covering people’s eyes, blinding them against social injustices, ever will. It refers to sensational news reporting as well.
“Circus” refers to the TRP greedy media circus, while “Phoonk” focuses on the moral high ground media takes to judge others, specifically with respect to ‘Bollywood and drugs’.
“Teesra Khamba” details the functions of the four pillars of democracy, where they have failed and where there is still some hope and “Jamhuriyat Begam” personifies ‘democracy’ as an aging woman tracing her origins in France and journey since then.
“Pulav Khayali” deals with elections and the barrage of promises that come with them.
“Bhonpu” centres on how leaders like former US President Donald Trump affect democracy.
“Love Jahaz” is a play on ‘love jihad’ and is about how love knows no boundaries. “Vaccine” on the other hand equates ‘hatred’ to a vaccine being injected into people that is killing humanity.
“Kaikeyi” compares maternal love of the eponymous mythological figure with self-appointed defenders of various things, who are quick to take offence.
Finally, “Mare Tum” concludes with the death of conscience, how fear is rendering people into silent observers of social problems.