In 1966, musician Mina Kava and his band were asked by recording company HMV to compose a song about Bombay.

MUMBAI: In 1966, musician Mina Kava and his band were asked by recording company HMV to compose a song about Bombay. Kava’s wife Naju pitched in with the lyrics, and the ditty that emerged was Evening in Gay Maharashtra. Made in an era when ‘gay’ referred to joy and gaiety, it invited people to visit the state and its “full of life” financial capital.

“Like all the songs he made in English, the lyrics had been written by his formidable wife Naju and carried a whiff of Edwardian innocence about them,” wrote journalist Naresh Fernandes in his book Taj Mahal Foxtrot. “In 1966, they’d made their debut with an ode to their home state, which had been born only six years earlier.”

Earlier this month, a contemporary adaptation of the song, which replaced certain lyrics with bold, subversive references, made waves online. Shot last year, the video resurfaced following the Supreme Court verdict, which was seen as a denial of human rights by the LGBT community .

Sung by Suman Sridhar, the adaptation moves the song from one extolling the virtues of the state’s chapatti and hill stations to one that points to the intolerance towards the gay community. In light of the Supreme Court’s refusal to look at the review petition on its section 377 judgment, the song could well be the new anthem for LGBT citizens.

While the new version declares that gay men and women have as much right to the city, the original recalls a more liberal, cosmopolitan city. “It was a song that had been lost and forgotten, but its relevance at different points in Bombay or Maharashtra is pertinent,” says Sridhar. “Whether it is the police raids in bars and clubs in 2012, the time the entire city was shut down after Bal Thackeray died, and now, when the archaic section 377 is still being implemented.”

The video was shot in one take, with silk curtains and a set-up that reminds one of Mumbai’s bar era. In the background are the Indian flag, and the national map, with Sridhar sporting the traditional Maharashtrian nose-ring.

“People, including the queer community, have loved it and related to it,” Sridhar says. “The issue here is not just about the rights of (sexual) minorities, it affects everyone.”