A satirical rap demanding a ₹500 monthly allowance for men from chief minister Bhagwant Mann has turned Talwara-Cypher, a group of young artistes from Talwara in Hoshiarpur district, into a social media sensation within hours of its release. Though they have been creating music for quite some time, this recent hip-hop track has finally delivered the widespread popularity they long chased.
“The latest track promises to be a breakthrough for us the way it has gone viral and garnered millions of views. It is overwhelming. We had not expected such a huge response”, says Talwara-Cypher group leader Happy Heer, who uses M C Heer as his stage name.
The track, “CM Mann nu sneha pahuncha deyo, bandian de khate joge 500 hi pawa deyo, aiwein na sare paise bibian te uda deyo (Deliver my message to chief minister Mann, put at least ₹500 in men’s accounts too, don’t spend all the money on the women)”—took shape after Heer’s colleague, Hukum, crossed paths with a woman on her way to register for the state’s cash scheme, which is set for a rollout on July 1 after long budgetary delays.
“The elderly woman asked Hukum for a ride. When she told him that she was going to a sewa kendra to enrol for the cash scheme, the question crossed his mind as to why all financial benefits are given to women only be it free bus travel or cash assistance”, Heer said. “He wrote the verse, structured it in a rhyme, we selected a beat and produced the video. The playful presentation and catchy lyrics instantly clicked with social media viewers.”
Following its success on Instagram, the reel was cross-posted to other platforms. While the group did not directly tag any political figures, the track quickly reached Punjab’s political circles.
“We did not tag the chief minister or any other government functionary but it must have reached them. Dasuya AAP MLA Karamvir Singh Ghumman commented on our post promising that he would take up the demand (of honorarium for men) with the government,” Heer said.
Heer and his friend Bawa Lakhvir originally founded Talwara-Cypher as an independent launchpad for local talent when mainstream industry doors remained shut to them. “We wanted to make our name in the music industry but no one was willing to work with us as we did not have much money. So we set up our own platform and started putting out our content,” Heer said, noting that this is not their first brush with a digital audience, as an earlier composition, Fauji aayenga kadon chhutti (soldier when will you come on leave), previously racked up over two million views.
