How a protest rap song about slum eviction in Chennai is slowly gaining traction

“I have experienced several issues related to land, police atrocities, local politics since my childhood,” Imman Vijay told South First.

“My questions and anger became my voice.”

This anger has found voice yet again in his latest offering, Singara Chennai 2.0, a song on a slum clearance project in Chennai and relocation of its inhabitants to what are called “housing boards” at locations far from the city such as Perumbakkam.

This song has several lines that could needle the ruling party in the state, admit the people behind its video version.

“We want a response from the government,” said filmmaker Adhidya SR, director of the song video that is slowly catching on, with over 10,000 views within days of its release.

Singara Chennai 2.0: Beautiful no more

The slum eviction drive that the song is based on has its roots in an ambitious dream to transform Chennai into Singapore, first spoken of way back in 1996 by the city’s then mayor MK Stalin.

The official poster of the ‘Singara Chennai 2.0’ video. (Supplied)

It was he who coined the term “Singara Chennai”, meaning “Beautiful Chennai”, and it was he who revived the project in August 2021 as Tamil Nadu’s chief minister.

Stalin’s original plan involved beautification of the city, clearing its traffic problems, creating and maintaining green zones and parks, improving drainage and sewage, and preserving water bodies.

Singara Chennai 2.0, which has been allocated ₹500 crore, comes with an added objective: Tap Chennai’s coastline by developing water sports to increase tourism.

However, there is a dark side to the revived plan; because of it, slum dwellers who have been part of the city for more than 50 years were despatched to housing tenements located far from the city as part of a rehabilitation programme.

It meant these slum residents now have to travel 25-40 kms every day from their new homes to reach their schools and colleges and workplaces.

So harassed are they that on 8 May, 2022, a slum dweller named VG Kannaiyan, 58, committed suicide by setting himself on fire in protest.

Suicide stokes artistes

It was Kannaiyan’s death that was the immediate trigger for Vijay to pen Singara Chennai 2.0. Helping him work on the song was music beat producer S Sukumaran.

‘Singara Chennai 2.0’ director Adhidya SR.

Adhidya SR was roped into the project to direct the video song and the project was produced by Neelam Social, a YouTube channel run by Tamil film director Pa Ranjith.

In a way, the track — and Imman Vijay’s use of rap to voice protests against what he sees as social injustice — was enabled by Azar aka MC AZY, a rapper who introduced him to Dudez, a rap community in Chennai.
After they collaborated on their first track, Equality, the duo reached out to Pa Ranjith.

“Pa Ranjith liked our work and I sensed new hope, and the meeting with him became a turning point in my life,” said Vijay, adding that Pa Ranjith produced his next song Virus.

The music producer, Vijay said, has screened their albums in the biggest event Margazhiyil Makkalisai, including Singara Chennai 2.0.

“This was in honour of our thought process,” he said.

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Creating the visuals

Adhidya, the director of the song, had met Imman Vijay on a show she produces for Neelam Social called The Street Studios which showcases independent, expressive artists.

Before she shot her video, Adhidya visited the Perumbakkam tenements twice — once in September last year, and again this August — and realised that nothing had changed between the two visits, save for the addition of more eight-storey buildings to accommodate more displaced people.

The daily struggles that existed last year remained: Lack of health centres, travel-related problems, water scarcity, unemployment, and children’s safety.

Adhidya decided to capture the Perumbakkam tenement in her visual narrative of the song to highlight the plight of people uncertain about their lives.

“The three elements of the visual narrative were to show the places evicted, the tenements, and the places that are going to be evicted, that was the idea before moving ahead,” she told South First.

The video begins with the demolished ruins of a slum in the foreground and skyscrapers in the background. Kannaiyan’s death is underlined throughout, complete with his obituary poster and several shots of the burning artist.

Adhidya has no illusion about what the reaction to the video can be; she expects a backlash, as the lyrics taunt the ruling party at several places.

“There are few digs we have taken at the ruling party here,” she said. “There is a line that goes, Andrada coolie idam Dravidam poi serathu (Dravidian ideology won’t reach the working class), it is a straight dig at the party.”

Adhidya said the people behind the video wanted to get a “good reach”. “We spent a lot in making it. It should address the issue and it is a product as well. From the production and ideology perspective, we need capital to push forward the cause.”

But she need not be overly worried: The song is slowly gaining traction on YouTube.