How Zohran Mamdani's Bollywood-flavoured 'creative' campaign helped win over New Yorkers

New York mayoral candidate, State Rep. Zohran Mamdani speaks to supporters during an election night gathering at The Greats of Craft LIC on June 24 in the Long Island City neighborhood of the Queens borough in New York City. (Image credit: AFP)

After Zohran Mamdani, the son of a celebrated filmmaker with strong Bollywood roots, Mira Nair, orchestrated a stunning upset in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary, social media users have been lauding the potent effectiveness of his campaign, and especially a viral campaign video, which was deeply infused with South Asian culture and entertainment. His unique approach not only garnered praise for its cheery tone and clever viral videos but also energised young voters -- a factor many social commentators deemed a crucial demographic for Democrats.

Mamdani's campaign, which propelled him from a virtual unknown to a Democratic nominee, spoke directly to the city's large South Asian population and working-class communities in a language they instantly connected with: Hindi cinema. Leaning heavily into the music, imagery, and emotion of Bollywood, his team crafted viral content that resonated profoundly.

Bollywood takes centrestage

In his viral campaign video, Mamdani masterfully recreated a scene from the 1975 classic Deewar where Amitabh Bachchan's character famously lists his wealth – "Aaj mere paas buildingein hai, property hai, bangla hai, bank balance hai, gaadi hai. Tumhare paas kya hai (Today I have buildings, property, a bungalow, a bank balance, and a car. What do you have)?" – Mamdani, striking Shah Rukh Khan's signature pose, responded simply, "Aap (I have you)."

Zohran Mamdani doing the SRK pose for his New York mayor campaign pic.twitter.com/gq05A75UGB

— sohom (@AwaaraHoon) June 25, 2025

The video also reimagined a line sung by Kishore Kumar in Karz (1980): "Kya tumne kabhi kisi ko pyaar kiya? Kisiko dil diya? (Have you ever loved someone? Given someone your heart?)". Mamdani's version became, "Have you ever voted for anyone? Have you ever ranked anyone?", covering explainers on ranked-choice voting to multilingual, immigrant voters.

Zohran Mamdani will probably become the new mayor of New York City

This was his campaign video especially made for the people from indian subcontinent. Look at the creativity and boldness

Story continues below Advertisement

Remove Ad

pic.twitter.com/tmhAKuQ1gd

— Dhruv Rathee (@dhruv_rathee) June 25, 2025

When an X user asked the platform's AI chatbot about the language Mamdani used in his video and what percentage of New York City residents speak it, Grok replied: "The language in Zohran Mamdani's campaign video is likely Urdu, based on reports of his outreach to South Asian communities. Approximately 1.3% of NYC residents, or about 114,000 people, spoke Urdu at home in 2015, according to census estimates. More recent data is unavailable, so this figure may not reflect 2025 demographics."

Populist message and historic win
Positioning himself against Democratic heavyweight Andrew Cuomo, who had US President Donald Trump's backing, Mamdani's punchline, "Billionaires ke paas already sab kuchh hai. Ab, aapka time aagaya (Billionaires already have everything. Now, your time has come)," sharply defined his populist stance.

Mamdani's campaign promised "Roti, kapda aur makaan (food, clothing, and shelter), aiming for affordable living through rent freezes, free buses, universal childcare, and cheaper groceries.

After securing 43.5 per cent of the vote against Cuomo's 36.3 per cent, the 33-year-old declared victory on Tuesday, quoting Nelson Mandela: "It always seems impossible until it's done. My friends, it is done. And you are the ones who did it. I am honoured to be your Democratic nominee for the Mayor of New York City."