 "election meme")
The "Baazigar" takes it all, or so the Aam Aadmi Party sought to project when it put out a meme from the 1993 Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol blockbuster film. But it did not bargain for quick-witted rivals in the BJP and the Congress who may possibly know more about Bollywood than Delhi's ruling party.
Just like mixed metaphors don't work, confused cinema references don't either, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party learnt much to its embarrassment.
The meme was a still from the hit film, showing Shah Rukh looking longingly at Kajol with another actor, Siddharth, in the middle, also seeing her with lovelorn eyes. The party tagged itself Shah Rukh, Siddharth as Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari and Kajol, their love interest, as Delhi.
"All the best Sir @ManojTiwariMP," the AAP tweeted on his official handle. The tweet, posted on January 12, soon got more 9,000 likes.
Unfortunately for the party, the message got lost with the BJP quick to point out that Shah Rukh is actually the villain and not the hero in the film.
"Whoever is handling this account is writing Arvind Kejriwal's political obituary. SRK was a manipulative villain in the movie who was plotting against Kajol & her family. He killed Kajol's sister. And, in the end, he got killed for his sins. Same fate awaits Kejriwal in Delhi!" the Delhi BJP said on Twitter.
Not to be left behind in the war over the "Baazigar", translated as magician or winner, the Congress too stepped in.
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It used the same still but photoshopped a picture of Kajol's real life husband, actor Ajay Devgn.
In the frame Kajol is seen smiling at Devgan.
"Congress wale dulhaniya le jaayenge. AAP aur BJP dekhte reh jaayenge," the Delhi Congress tweeted, using another cult film starring Shah Rukh and Kajol to make its point that it will take away the bride while the BJP and the AAP will be mute spectators.
"Dear @AamAadmiParty & @BJP4India, As you can see in the picture, Kajol (Delhi) doesn't seem interested in either of you and is actually looking towards Congress! We assure you that we will rescue Delhi from both of you," the party said in another post.
The AAP, which has made attacking Tiwari a major part of its anti-BJP strategy through his Bhojpuri movie clips, was left red-faced with many saying it had scored a self goal.
In "Baazigar", Shah Rukh plays a villain, killing Kajol's sister Shilpa Shetty and later usurping her father Dilip Tahil's property. In the end, he is killed fighting Tahil's goons.
Getting ready for the February 8 polls, the parties have been using other Bollywood films as well as props in their electoral battle.
The Congress also posted a video of the 1997 movie "Ishq" starring Kajol, Devgn, Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla.
The video, from one of the funniest scenes of the movie, shows a beggar (tagged Kejriwal) throwing actor Tiku Talsania (tagged Delhi) down the drain.
The AAP also posted a video with scenes of Anil Kapoor starrer "Nayak" conducting an inspection and flaying a corrupt PDS outlet manager. In the same video, Kejriwal, dubbed the real life 'Nayak' is seen reprimanding an official.
In another tweet earlier in the week, a video was posted with the AAP's campaign song "Lage Raho Kejriwal" and Tiwari in the background.
In response to the video, the Delhi BJP complained to the Election Commission and sent a defamation notice to AAP seeking Rs 500 crore in damages after it tweeted a video the video.
The BJP and the Congress are seeking to dethrone the AAP which swept the polls in 2015.
