Reviewing Nachiketa’s Lyrics as a Protest against Diverse Malpractices: A Study from a Post-colonial Perspective

Songs are not always a source of recreation that soothes one’s mind with beautifully romantic hearttouching sugar-quoted lyrics. Songs may also be angry in tone and harsh in voice, as is noticeable in many of the songs of Nachiketa Chakraborty. Likewise, the crucial period of Colonialism may be over, but a more critical period of Neocolonialism is now a dominating practice in the developing countries by rich and most developed countries, mostly through their political and economic strategies. The interesting thing is that power and resistance go side by side. Nachiketa’s melodious lyrics are the literary resistance to Neocolonial forces. Nachiketa is one of the few Kolkata-centric artists whose late post-90s modern Bengali songs have won the hearts of both West Bengal and Bangladeshi people. What is less noticeable during these three decades is that Nachiketa has a strong presence through vocal and melody, where his rebellious voice has not failed to criticize the government, political, religious, financial, or cultural institutions that indirectly represent Neocolonial ideologies like Capitalism, Globalization, and Cultural Imperialism. This article is going to excavate how Nachiketa has criticized different layers of malpractices prevailing in the diversified aspects of day to day life through his best known, surprisingly turbulent anti-imperial lyrical creations.