How many Vishals does it take to skewer the Covid-19 crisis? Well, precisely two. Not for the first time, Vishal Bhardwaj and Vishal Dadlani have teamed up to bang out a track of our times. In 2014’s Haider, they distilled the chaos and claustrophobia of modern-day Kashmir into the electric, Aao Na. And now, amid concerted claims of water under the bridge, they bring out a potent Covid reminder.
Mask Kho Gaya (Mask Is Missing), a new music video composed and written by Bhardwaj and voiced by Dadlani, is a teasing survey of the past nine months. Created by animation duo Bob and Bobby (twins Susruta and Saswata Mukerjee), it’s a funny take on the comman man beset by a virus on the one hand and jingoism on the other.
Bhardwaj’s lyrics find a simple thread — the fear of losing one’s mask — and extend it into a nightmarish vision of our pandemic world. Xi Jinping, Donald Trump, Imran Khan, Narendra Modi and Vladimir Putin, appear in cartoon form. The hammer of a gun is revealed to be a thermometer screen.
A vaccine scientist is hounded by prickly newspapers as Dadlani sings, “Log hai seher mein na chowkidar santri/ Ek bas bacche hain hum sari kaynat mein, koi president na pradhan mantri... (Not a soul anywhere, not a sentry roaming the universe on our own, no president in sight, no prime minister...).”
With its brassy tune and pointed lyrics, Mask Kho Gaya, beats your standard PSA. Bhardwaj and Dadlani resist the sycophancy that gripped the Hindi film industry in the wake of the lockdown. Instead of rallying stars and musical talents to sing praises of the government, the duo point to deeper errors. “Barse barse phool faujio pe asman se,” Dadlani sings, “...chalte chalte migrants margaye thakan se...” (A flowery shower on soldiers while migrants drop dead on the road...)
Elsewhere, though, the tone is more playful than scathing. ‘Scholar Arrested For Playing Seditious Interlude,’ reads a headline of ‘Dystopian Daily’. The viruses are sickly emojis staging a Bollywood number. A particularly agitated one, identified as ‘Coronab’, outrages on TV. Those looking for a political slant might be disappointed: (Oddly, Arvind Kejriwal, whose party Dadlani distanced himself from in 2016, is missing from the action).
The song drops its payload near the end. A crowd erupts in joy as ‘VACCINE COVID-19’ is unveiled on stage. Standing in the distance, a migrant family starts banging their thaalis. Then a shadow rises, cutting them off for ever.
WATCH HERE: