From SRK's pose to 'Dhoom macchale': How Zohran Mamdani used Bollywood and South Asian language, culture to win big in New York City

Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani registered a spectacular victory in New York Mayoral elections on Nov 4 by defeating Trump-backed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, an independent candidate, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa. Mamdani knows that he has created history as he is the man of many firsts - first Indian-American to be the mayor of NYC, first immigrant mayor of NYC, first Muslim mayor of NYC, first South Asian mayor of NYC and the youngest mayor of the city in over a century. Surely, it wasn't an easy task to bring this ideological shift in America's capitalist citadel. But, this self-declared Democratic Socialist did it. He owes a major part of his success to his Bollywood style social media campaign. Right from the start, Mamdani knew how he will promote himself on social media, and it worked! Even in his victory, Mamdani didn't shy away from showing his love for Bollywood. Just after his victory speech, crowd cheered in unison and internet went gaga as the tune of 'Dhoom Macchale' played in background, with Mamdani hugging his wife Rama Duwaji, mother Mira Nair and father Mahmood Mamdani.

Isn't his victory a perfect Bollywood script too? An immigrant under constant attack of the President makes his way to the top. But, like every quintessential hero, he didn't compromise on his vision and ideas, he was not intimidated. For the side track, he had a love story that began on Hinge. And even after victory, its “Picture abhi baaki hai” as he has daunting task of fulfilling his promises. But at the end, the hero wins, hopefully, here too!

How Mamdani used Bollywood for his campaign?

From 1 per cent in the polls in February to around 56 per cent by July, Zohran Mamdani's use of social media for his election campaign is one for the books, if not, it is surely for a case to be studied in Advertisement and PR class. You could find Mamdani everywhere - from TikTok reels to Instagram stories to YT. He teased his planned absence from New York on social media to get traction, he made click worthy captions for videos of his rallies, he collaborated with creators and his team knew how to keep the audience hooked. From using videos of him eating with hands to him visiting temples, mosques and gurudwaras, from him buying biryani from food trucks in NYC to him speaking in multiple South Asian languages, from SRK's iconic pose and Amitabh Bachchan's ‘mere pas maa hai’ - Mamdani struck the right chord. At one point, Mamdani's videos were so viral in South Asia that Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis huddled in his comment section to know how they could vote in NYC mayoral polls! The cultural familiarity of these videos helped him get voters' attention.

"Mere paas maa hai...."

In a campaign video, Mamdani recreated a famous dialogue from the 1975 film Deewar starring Amitabh Bachchan. He said, “Aaj mere paas buildingein hain, property hai, bangla hai, bank balance hai, gaadi hai. Tumhare paas kya hai?” Mamdani says, “Aap” (I have you) In the same video, Mamdani strikes Shah Rukh Khan's signature pose.

"Kya tumne kabhi kisi ko pyaar kiya? Kisiko dil diya?"

In another video, Mamdani used legendary singer Kishore Kumar's voice from 1980 film Karz, to explain the ranked choice voting. Changing the original lines “Kya tumne kabhi kisi ko pyaar kiya? Kisiko dil diya?” to "Hey, have you ever voted for anyone? Have you ever ranked anyone?" - Mamdani made sure that migrants and immigrants paid attention to ranked choice voting technique.

"Roti Kapda Aur Makaan"

Mamdani referenced the 1974 film Roti, Kapda Aur Makaan to highlight his core promise of affordable food, clothing, and housing for all New Yorkers.

"Apna time aayega"

He also repurposed hit Hindi song Apna Time Aayega (“Our time will come”) from the Bollywood film Gully Boy and used it as a slogan in his campaign - “Ab, aapka time aagaya” (“Now, your time has come”).

How Mamdani used South Asian roots in his campaign?

Just ahead of the election, Mamdani had declared that he will embrace his identity. If there's one thing that his campaign showed, it was that he would be unapologetic about his South Asian roots. In multiple videos, he used South Asian language to connect with immigrant voters. He blended his campaign videos with words from Hindi, Bengali and Urdu. From popularising chants of "Amar mayor, Tomar mayor, Mamdani Mamdani!" (My mayor, Your mayor, Mamdani Mamdani!) to “bhavisho amader hathe” (Our future is in our hands), Mamdani was seen speaking in Bengali in couple of his videos. In a few videos, he smoothly shifted from English to Hindi - “New Yorkers are struggling to afford food, clothing, and housing. Mai ise badalne ke liye lad raha hun."(I am fighting to change that.) “Bhaiyon bas 20 din bache hai aur vikalp mere aur Andrew Cuomo ke bich hai” (Brothers, only 20 days are left and the choice is between me or Andrew Cuomo). Without a doubt, it was unexpected and without a doubt, it worked.

Moreover, Mamdani proved to be a representative South Asians needed in the US - to challenge their racism and anti-Asia beliefs. Mamdani sparked a massive controversy when he ate biryani and Haleem with his hands in few of his campaign videos. In the video, while eating with hands, he said that he was poking the “holy grail of taboos in American politics - Socialism, Islam and Palestine.” He did poke the fourth one too - West's insensitivity towards Asian culture and practices. While his act exposed the racist character of several Republican leaders and supporters, he did connect to the grassroots.

Mamdani's videos hit the right chord, because of its rawness and unique honesty. Probably, the NYC voters believed it was not performative and Mamdani was one among them. Why was Mamdani able to do it flawlessly? The answer lies in his own family and upbringing and the voters saw it. Both his mother and father - Mahmood Mamdani and Mira Nair - are of Indian descent. He was born in Uganda and at the age of seven, he migrated to New York. He married a Syrian-American woman - Rama Duwaji.

Mamdani - now the mayor-elect of New York City - knew that culture is close to the hearts of 600,000 South Asian Americans in New York and he knew canvassing would require something more than promises, sothis 'communist lunatic" chose South Asia's love for its culture. We all know, what happened next! In his speech after victory, he gave a glimpse of what he has learnt from Bollywood - “Donald Trump, since I know you're watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up.” To this Trump could only say: “And so it begins!"