With Donald Trump once again winning the US Presidential Election, here’s a look at how some recent American Presidents have popped up in Indian pop culture every now and then.
2009 was the year two-term President George Bush handed over the government to Barack Obama, who held the position for the next two. However, just before he handed over the Presidency to Obama, Bush decided to take a tour to India – and six young Indians were shortlisted for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shake hands with the president.
2009 was one of the best years for Konkona Sen Sharma as she gave us three absolute bangers. Not only did you have the now-iconic Wake Up Sid and Luck By Chance, but she also starred in The President is Coming, an underrated classic that I recently chanced upon. This film, by the way, is available on Hotstar, and almost…almost features a cameo by George Bush Sr. as well, who eventually gets replaced by… Dharmendra.
George Bush was given a shoutout by another Bollywood film the following year in 2010, when Pradyuman Singh, the actor playing Osama Bin Laden began a video message with “Dear Habibi George Bush”. Tere Bin Laden came out in the summer of 2010, and Bin Laden was killed in the summer of 2011. A co-incidence? I think not. I wonder if Laden saw the film and thought he’d had enough. A sequel came out a few years later, but I wonder if even the filmmaker wants to talk about it.
As Bush left and Obama took over, Bollywood embraced this change with his iconic ‘Yes We Can’ speech becoming a plot point in Phas Gaya Re Obama, where the American President’s speech inspires an Indian to move to the US, starting off a series of unfortunate events in this black comedy.
Bush and Obama both come together in 2010’s My Name is Khan, where Shah Rukh’s Rizwan Khan tries to meet President Bush, but finally ends up meeting President-elect Obama instead!
Years later when he came to India, Obama did make it a point to include ‘Bade Bade Deshon Mein…’ in his speech to get a pop from the crowd. His successor, Donald Trump too, made a point to mention DDLJ as the 100,000-strong Ahmedabad crowd cheered on, right as India crash-landed into the COVID pandemic just weeks later. Sadly, we didn’t get a hat-trick, as Joe Biden’s visit to India had zero DDLJ mentions.
Bill Clinton, who didn’t get a movie, had to make do with a Raju Srivastav stand-up set where Billo Bhaiya comes to India and meets then-Prime Minister Vajpayee, who shares his marriage woes with him. The video is available to watch on Dailymotion here. In a rather bizarre crossover, there exists a picture of Lata Mangeshkar awkwardly posing with the Clintons. Google it yourself.
But then, this isn’t about the recent presidents. Centenarian Jimmy Carter, US President from 1977-1981, also gets an honorary mention in KGF 2, and adds to a plot point that might extend the story into a third part! (Refer: KGF 3 Jimmy Carter conspiracy theories)
Jimmy Carter, however, holds another unique distinction in India. When President Carter visited the village of Daulatpur Nasirabad in Gurgaon, the village renamed itself Caterpuri. Too bad we didn’t get a Trumpnagar or Clintonpur.
It isn’t just India, next door in Pakistan, poet Habib Jalib had a special mention for Jimmy Carter, as he wrote “Suna hai Jimmy Carter hai aap ka peer Maulana”, which was later performed by Laal, the band.
A President who should’ve been featured in Indian films, or rather, one who could have played himself in Bollywood is the movie star-turned-President Ronald Reagan. With over 50 films under his belt, he missed out on having a Bollywood role in his filmography.
Indian Pop Culture hasn’t really shied away from calling out the US and its love for wars. Anurag Kashyap’s Gulaal has a song which ends with:
Jaise door desh ke tower me ghus jaaye re aeroplane,
Jaise sar e aam Iraq me jaa ke jam gaye uncle Sam,
Jaise bina baat ke Afghanistan ka baj gaya bhaiya band
Around the same time, in the late 2000s, I also came across this song featuring B Jayashree dancing to ‘American War Par Da’ (Tamil Translation: Look at the American War) directed by KP Sasi and based on Kamaan Singh Dhami’s anti-war song.
While the song didn’t mean too much to me in school, it becomes more and more relevant with every passing day, with every passing conflict.
World War III no need to worry / God save us from American peace and liberty
While writing this, I googled the song once again and was pleasantly surprised to see this is still being performed in public spaces in Bangalore. It has aged well, especially as America continues to enable war crimes against Palestine and subvert democracies all over the world.
With the man who made an iconic movie cameo in Home Alone 2 (and totally did not bully his way into it) now back in power again, I wonder if Bollywood writers are already planning a script for India’s friend Dolaan Trump.
As far as Kamala Harris goes … looks like this is the last major Kamala appearance in a Bollywood film.
