Ram frenzy and the return of devotional music

As a master strategist, Modi is doing what he does best - building up hysterical frenzy for the Ayodhya event on January 22 that will see the installation of Ram idol at the grand temple being constructed for the deity. But the event, it seems, is also breathing new life into India’s devotional music genre

For the past week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has 94.4 million followers on X (formerly Twitter) has been posting YouTube links to Shri Ram ‘bhajans’ (devotional songs) by a range of artistes, with a majority of them celebrating the arrival of Lord Ram in Ayodhya. Songs by Mir Osman, Hariharan, Geeta Rabari, Swasti Mehul (Ram Aayenge) and Jubin Nautiyal’s ‘Mere Ghar Ram Aaye Hain’ have been tweeted by the PM’s official social media handle. The last one, written by Manoj Muntashir Shukla and distributed by T-Series, has been a chartbuster, garnering more than 34 lakh views on YouTube in the last one year.

Ram frenzy and the return of devotional music

As a master strategist, Modi is doing what he does best - building up hysterical frenzy for the Ayodhya event on January 22 that will see the installation of Ram idol at the grand temple being constructed for the deity. But the event, it seems, is also breathing new life into India’s devotional music genre.

India’s largest music company T-Series has released 40-50 devotional songs in the past few months. “In recent times, we’ve witnessed a significant surge in devotional song releases and the demand for such content has been on the rise,” T-Series chairman and managing director Bhushan Kumar told HT. These devotional songs have permeated music reality TV shows, live concerts, streaming and YouTube.

Decoding PM’s calculated bhajan tweets and the revival of devotional music, Sanjay Sarma, founder at SSARMA Consults, a boutique branding & communication advisory, said Ayodhya is a crucial part of the 2024 general elections political strategy for the current government. “The timing is pitch perfect. There is no better way to drum up support than invoke the collective religious conscience of the majority,” he said.

For the BJP and its followers, Ayodhya was a ‘success’ in 1992 and it is peak chest-thumping pride in 2024, he added. “They have skilfully inter-linked faith and religion with their politics over the past decade with a sustained attempt to mainstream it and it now infiltrates the daily lives of a significant portion of the population. The millions of YouTube views of bhajans, discourses, etc. is the cumulative effect of this religious uprising, aided by the power of technology within our palms,” he explained.

T-Series’ Kumar said the PM’s endorsement of devotional songs undoubtedly amplifies their reach and influence but their enduring appeal goes beyond specific occasions. The genre will thrive as the response from younger audiences is encouraging.

Poet, lyricist and screenwriter Manoj Muntashir Shukla, who has written all the recent devotional songs for T-Series, said the credit for resurgence of devotional music must go to writers and composers approaching the genre differently. “With T-Series, we are making devotional music with words and sounds that resonate with GenZ. Our new number ‘Narayan Mil Jayenge’ has exceeded one lakh views on a young medium like Instagram Reels in the last 15 days,” he said.

Shukla, known for his superhit film songs for Kesari, Rustom and Ek Villain, among others, attributes the increased popularity of new music to India’s burgeoning music creator economy. “With the power of digital distribution in hand, talented singers and composers are creating music that goes viral on merit,” he said.

A December report ‘The Music Creator Economy: The rise of music publishing in India’ by consulting firm EY said each year 20,000-25,000 original songs are produced in India by over 40,000 creators, generating more than ₹12,000 crore in annual revenue. Globally, 7 of the top 10 songs on YouTube in 2022 were Indian and singer Hariharan’s Hanuman Chalisa ranked number 4. T-Series, the most subscribed YouTube channel, also runs an exclusive Bhakti (devotional) channel on the platform ranked number 10, the report said.

Audio streaming platforms have made diverse music, including devotional and spiritual, more accessible. “Across many homes, people wake up to Alexa playing devotional songs,” said Sarma, adding that India and Bharat aren’t two different worlds any more. “Cultural and religious identity of India has peaked. It has become Bharat’s calling card,” he said.

Although some devotional songs by Shukla have clocked massive streaming numbers on Spotify, the digital audio platform does not share information on its music segment. However, it said that its mythology and spiritual podcasts are outperforming others. Among GenZ, listenership of this genre jumped more than 230% in India last year based on Spotify’s Culture Next report.

And the Ayodhya jamboree is now driving Indians to hum a new religious tune.