Haan Simran haan, we are loving these witty railway posters!

By Nichola

on January 17, 2018

Nothing like a film poster to drive a message home! Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has been sharing Bollywood-themed posters on Twitter, with the hashtag Railway Ke Zharokhe Se and they have been quite a hit. One poster points out that being late is better than being in a life-threatening accident. It shows that classic image of Simran running along the platform to join her lover Raj who holds out his hand to her from the moving train. This epic scene from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge actually had patriarch Amrish Puri finally consenting to his daughter Kajol’s love, and urging her, “Ja Simran ja, jee le apni zindagi.” The public service poster however tweaks the line to read, “Na Simran na.’

[embed]https://twitter.com/PiyushGoyalOffc/status/953309266839986176[/embed]

Another poster shows three children walking along the railway tracks, bottle of water in hand. It advises against defecation on the tracks, pointing out that it spreads filth and disease. The title: “Neele gagan ke tale.”

[embed]https://twitter.com/PiyushGoyalOffc/status/953316104960491520[/embed]

A third is captioned “Ghar aaja pardesi tera des bulaye re…” The image shows a young girl sitting on a platform, her luggage around her, as she chats on the phone. The message implies that it is the Indian Railways that reach you home to your family for every festival, increasing happiness several times over.

[embed]https://twitter.com/PiyushGoyalOffc/status/953474806518657025[/embed]

The concept of using Bollywood to drive home a point is not exactly new. In October 2016, the Howrah division of Eastern Railway came up with a concept to modify popular Indian film dialogues to effectively tell people to keep the stations clean. As a part of the ‘Swachhta Saptah’ initiative of the Railways, the Howrah division had put up posters at stations, highlighting the importance of cleanliness, and the penalty associated with littering and spitting.

One poster tweaked the famous dialogue by Gabbar Singh in Sholay to read: “Arey O Sambha, Kitna zurmana rakhe hai sarkar gandagi failane par….500 rupay….poore 500”. Another poster urged, “Ja Simran ja, platform bhi saaf rakhte hue ja,” while yet another modified the line from Anand to read: “Babumoshai, kab kaun, kahaan kuda giraayega…yeh koi nahi bata sakta.”