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Overnight celebrities of West Bengal
Bhuban Badyakar’s song changed his life when it was filmed and shared on a video-sharing platform in November 2021
Kolkata: Until four months back, Bhuban Badyakar, a resident of Kuraljuri in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, went from village to village on his motorcycle selling peanuts often in exchange for items such as broken mobile phones, which he later sold. He would sing a song describing his work to attract customers and sell around three to four kg of peanuts daily to somehow make ends meet.
The song changed his life when it was filmed and shared on a video-sharing platform in November 2021. It went viral after Nazmu Reachat, a Bangladeshi YouTuber and singer, remixed it and took the Internet by storm as it was shared on Instagram.
Badyakar approached a local police station for the song’s copyright in December for a share of earnings. He soon caused a sensation as the song gained popularity. Badyakar now performs on reality shows and other TV programmes. Ruling Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party even roped him for their campaigns during the civic elections. Last month, the West Bengal Police also felicitated him.
Badyakar, a father of three, is now making enough money that he has even bought a second-hand car to learn driving. He met with a car accident on Monday. “I am fine. I suffered a chest injury while learning to drive. The car rammed into a wall.”
Badyakar said he does not want to sell peanuts anymore. “How can I go back there? After becoming a celebrity, I went to sell peanuts once or twice. More than buying peanuts, people wanted to take photos with me and listen to my songs.”
Badyakar’s story mirrors that of Ranu Mondol, who also became an Internet sensation in 2019 after a video of her singing Bollywood song“Ek Pyaar Ka Nagma Hai” at a railway station in West Bengal’s Nadia was filmed and uploaded on the Internet. Mondol now hardly gets to perform and does not even have a mobile or television at home.
Mondol was once a part of an orchestra before she detached from her family and began singing on the platforms of the railway station. She featured in another video in which she is seen trying to imitate actor Allu Arjun’s step with a stick in her hand. Mondol did not get the step right and was trolled.
“Bollywood singer Himesh Reshammiya helped her... She shared the stage with Reshammiya in India and abroad and sang at least three songs in his film,” said Atindra Chakraborty, who spotted Mondol and uploaded her song.
Filmmaker Rishikesh Mondol is even making a biopic on Ranu Mondol, who would get a lot of invitations for stage shows and live performances. Now she gets very few calls and has even refused many invitations.
Ratan Kahar, 85, a folk singer from Birbhum, similarly suddenly shot to fame overnight in April 2020 when rapper Badshah used a part of the former’s “Boroloker biti lo” in his song Genda Phool featuring actor Jacqueline Fernandez. “I wrote the song in 1972 and even sung it on Akashvani [All India Radio] in 1976. ...Badshah used it in his song. He contacted me and spoke to me...,” said Kahar, who worked in the bidi industry.
Kahar, who would also perform in village theatres and dramas, has written over 150 folk songs. But it was “Boroloker biti lo” that took the Internet by storm and brought him overnight fame on social media. His fame was also short-lived. Kahar got invitations from clubs and organisations. He was also felicitated and even performed on one or two shows before slipping into oblivion again.
