Lorna’s
Bebdo re-imagined? Well, that’s as far as the background score goes. But supermom,
dancer, actor and a bit of a politician, Cecille Rodrigues from Talegaio, has
composed a song and dance routine based on Lorna’s evergreen hit Bebdo’s tune,
with her own lyrics, which should shake the government out of its stupor of
building low quality roads in Goa, which are all caving in
The ‘Rosto Song’, video was shared almost
3,000 times by Goans in Goa and the diaspora across the world
‘Bebdo’, the original song sung by Lorna
has a catchy tune by Chris Perry and can be sung to any lyrics. Doing just that
is Cecille who has used that tune to highlight the potholes that have become
craters on Goan roads. The song is not only an instant hit but has been shared
by Goans across the globe. The lead idea, lyrics, singing, dance choreography
and coordination is credited to Cecille Rodrigues, while Amrit Vatsa is the
director, editor, VFX, SFX, scenes visualiser and screenplay writer. The song
audio recording, mixing, mastering is by Ryan Mark Mathias. The video has
performances by Amrit, Cecille, Kalpana, Oscar, Selu, Skyla, Tariah, Velister
and Cecille’s son, Jake.
Explaining the making of the song, Cecille
says, “I did a video on the lines of the nursery rhyme ‘Old MacDonald had a
Farm’ and titled it ‘Oh My God Potholes in Goa’, which spoke about how potholes
have become a big issue. The video was widely liked and shared on social media.
Last month, after my Konkani tiatr in Ravindra Bhavan, I went out for dinner
and took part in a karaoke session, where I sang to the lyrics of ‘Bedbo’ by
Lorna and the idea struck me that I should write some witty lines in Konkani
and compose my own song on potholes in Goa. The word ‘bebdo’ rhymed well with
‘rosto’ and that’s how I started writing the song. I didn’t know how the video
would turn up. I wrote the song in my own Konkani in a simple way. I got an
instrumental version of ‘Bebdo’ by Ryan Mark Mathias, who also remixed it for
me and the song was recorded in his studio almost three weeks ago.”
Cecille then approached Amrit Vatsa, who collaborated with her
to create this funny and witty video. “It was more of friends coming together
for a good cause. Last Tuesday, we brainstormed the idea and on Thursday we
went to hunt for good locations. We planned to shoot on Sunday. However, the
only problem was that it was not raining. Fortunately, God heard our prayers
and we had heavy rains on Saturday night till Sunday morning, which was apt for
out shoot on Sunday. The scenes of falling from the bike were shot against a
green screen at Amrit’s garage. We added different elements that were out of
the box and the choreography was based on each line of the song. We also added
news clippings to highlight the situation and Walter Lobo’s voice in the
beginning really touched the Goan voice,” she adds.
The video was shared over 3,000 times and the upbeat tempo of
the song and funny expressions really made it a favourite within a day. However,
besides entertaining Goans, Cecille’s goal is for the authorities to take
action to mend the roads. “The government got another side of me through this
video. It is a negative criticism to get a positive response. Many non Goans
have also liked the video because they could read the subtitles in English to
understand what I am talking about. The song was released on all platforms and
is a voice for people who can’t speak out,” says Cecille.
This
song is a good way of attracting attention to a very serious matter as the
potholes in Goa have caused grievous injuries to riders and those who travel
every day on these roads. It is time to take action before it claims lives in
Goa.
