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Mann Ke Manjeere: Pop with a Conscience

Arun Venugopal

When Mallika Dutt started approaching music labels in India with her concept for a socially conscious Indipop album, the response was predictable.

"The initial reaction was very sceptical," said the human rights activist from her home in New York. "They thought it would be next to impossible."

Unlike most people who try to break into the music industry, Dutt's background revolved around her interest in social justice. A former professor of law, she helped found Sakhi, a New York-based women's group. Later, she returned to India, where she was programme officer for human rights and social justice at the Ford Foundation's New Delhi office.

But she soon realised that in the commercial arena, no one was interested in taking on such weighty issues as dowry and women's education, fearing it would alienate any and all listeners.

"People get bored," she said, echoing the concerns of industry executives. "It gets didactic, etcetera, etcetera."

Finally, she decided she'd have to take on the task herself. Her perseverance, and Rs 35 to 40 lakh [Rs 3.5-4 million] in funding from various sources, resulted in Mann Ke Manjeere, a collection of songs about women in modern India.

"The whole seam of the album is women's dreams," she said. The title track was turned into an offbeat music video, which features vocals by Shubha Mudgal.

"It's the story of a woman who leaves her marriage and becomes a truck driver," explained Dutt, preparing for a screening of the video and an ensuing discussion in Manhattan.

She noted that Mann Ke Manjeere was the first music video of its kind -- a song with a social message that was released commercially.

"In India there was no precedent," she said. "The only videos of this sort have focused on nationalism, like Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana."

Recently, the music video pulled off an even more improbable feat, being named Best Music Video at the Videocon Screen Awards. For Dutt, it was a great affirmation, but the response from listeners was even more overwhelming.

"We were just deluged by emails," she said, referring to the Web site of her organization, Breakthrough (www.letsbreakthrough.org). The organization has made its mission the marriage of human rights and popular culture, and has held discussions across India and now in the United States. Mann Ke Manjeere's success, she feels, is that it has given people a springboard for discussing women's issues.

That people are willing to participate in any sort of dialogue is in itself a feat, considering the barrage of issues that Indians have to deal with. "People have become desensitized to everything," she said. "We have so many problems. In 2001 we still have 20 dowry deaths a day."

Rather than allow the discussion to become abstract, Breakthrough ensures that people focus on the themes presented in the music video.

For Dutt, the guiding principle was simple: "Is there a way we can do it that doesn't automatically switch them off?" She also feels that the tone of the music video, and of the songs on the album, ensured an active response from listeners.

"The songs don't go 'Don't beat me'," she said. "They go 'I want to flow like the river'. It makes women a human entity rather than a victim."

To drive home the idea that women's empowerment is a very tangible goal, Breakthrough promotes a list of five objectives, listed on the organization's Web site: Stop Dowry, Share Housework, Prevent Violence, Educate Girls and Equal Inheritance.

Significantly, the response from men has been very strong, resulting in many offers to volunteer in the effort. "We're trying to reach both boys and girls, men and women," she said. "A lot of times these things are only directed at women."

Currently, Dutt is reviewing the next projects that Breakthrough will take on. It's likely that the issue will concern caste division or racial justice, but she's unsure as to whether the final product will be a music video or even possibly a television series. "The point is to not skip between issues," she said. "We need to stay focused."

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