[Watch] The Chinese Are Singing Bappi Lahiri’s ‘Jimmy Jimmy’ To Draw Attention Towards Lockdown Blues

Beijing: Hindi cinema legend Bappi Lahiri’s superhit song “Jimmy Jimmy Aaja Aaja” from the 1982 movie “Disco Dancer” has become popular once again but in China, where millions of Chinese suffering the dreaded lockdowns are expressing their anger and frustration over the country’s stringent zero-COVID policy through the song.

In the Chinese social media network Douyin – the Chinese name for TikTok, the song composed by Lahiri and sung by Parvati Khan is sung in Mandarin “Jie mi, jie mi”, which translates into “Give me rice, give me rice”, by people in the videos mockingly showing empty vessels to show how they are deprived of essential food items during the lockdowns, which has literally cut-off China from the outside world.

The video has so far managed to escape Chinese censors that are quick to remove any post deemed critical of the country’s regime.

@ananthkrishnan on how Jimmy Jimmy is now Jie Mi (give me rice) for Chinese stuck at home during lockdowns.
The famous Bappi Lahiri’s score for Disco Dancer (made in the 80s) is widespread in China. https://t.co/WkvFng6t0T

— Durgesh Dwivedi ✍🏼 🧲🇮🇳🇺🇸🎻 (@durgeshdwivedi) October 31, 2022

Notably, Indian movies have always enjoyed huge popularity in China right from the time of Raj Kapoor in the 1950s and 60s to recent years when films such as “3 Idiots”, “Secret Superstar”, “Hindi Medium”, “Dangal” and “Andhadhun,” which have performed exceptionally well at the Chinese box office.

China has been bogged down with a zero-COVID policy under which dozens of cities, including Shanghai which has a population of over 25 million, were under lockdown for weeks with people confined to their flats.

Under the zero-COVID policy mandated by President Xi Jinping, the cities and localities have to undergo strict lockdowns and people of the area are shifted to quarantine centres if any positive cases are reported.