Bhubaneswar: Odia rapper Samir Rishu Mohanty, who goes by the moniker ‘Big Deal’, is pulling off the ‘Singhadwara swag’ in his recently-released ‘Puri Toka’ music video to take the cultural vibrancy of the Pilgrim Town of Odisha to the world.
In about two days, the rap video has already garnered 41,000 views on YouTube and is making listeners groove to the Odia catchphrase—that’s colloquially common in Lord Jagannath’s native place—‘Puri-Toka, Puri-Toka, Aama Style Pura Chokha.’
Set in the dingy by-lanes of Puri and its pristine sea beach, the rap instantly grips the attention of its listener with its power-packed opening line—which has been uniformly punched into the song’s matrix—‘Puri Toka Gala Bounce.’
“Through this video, I have tried to capture the entire Puri vibes and represent its culture. The rap is also about the modernisation of Puri. The rap speaks of everything that’s related to Puri, from its food, Lord Jagannath, and art forms…We have showcased various art and dance forms like Malkhamb, Gotipua, Odissi, Naga, Jaga Khela (wrestling arena), etc in the video,” says the rapper, who was born to a Japanese mother and an Odia father.
Besides the traditional dance forms, the video also features the hip-hop dancers from Puri. And so, Samir calls it a ‘perfect marriage of the contemporary and the traditional,’
Having been born in Puri, Samir wants the world to know where he belongs. “If you come to Puri and hang out with the local boys here, you will realize how confident they are about their skill sets. They feel they are the best in the world, without undermining others. The same feeling is conveyed through the song,” he explains.
When it comes to Puri, Samir couldn’t have missed its Jagannath culture—sacrosanct to the land—while penning down the lyrics. Hence, comes the line, ‘Jagannath Prabhu Ku Mundiya Mari, Ratha Ku Taniki Gundicha Niye…!’
“I am proud of my native place, though I wasn’t here for very long. But, as I came back to Puri during the pandemic, I thought I would utilize my stay by letting the world know about its significance in my life,” says Samir, who collaborated with national-award-winning Independent filmmaker, Ashutosh Pattnaik, for the video.
Pattnaik, who also hails from the Pilgrim Town, has directed the video.
Samir, who has also composed the music for the song, also relied on Indian instruments like ‘shehnai’ and ‘tabla’, besides electric guitars, hip-hop drums, among others.
Watch the video here:
