He was the shocking disrupter in the New York City Mayoral elections. His victory probably embodies what the ‘Big Apple’ strives to represent – a cosmopolitan, culturally diverse, and increasingly inclusive city in the United States, with promises of opportunities, ambition and success.

But New York is not just a city romanticized in popular Hollywood films, but a place that people genuinely love to call home. And Zohran’s filmi story is not just a story to be ignored. It is worth telling because of how he used pop culture, with populist policy, digital storytelling, and cultural symbolism, to defeat a political heavyweight.

This 33 year young man is no stranger to the limelight. His mother, Mira Nair, a renowned Indian-American filmmaker, hails from a Punjabi Sikh heritage. His father, Mahmood Mamdani is a Ugandan academic/political scientist with a Gujarati Muslim background. The couple met in Uganda, married and settled down with a son in Kampala. But due to the purge led by Idi Amin, which expelled Uganda’s Asian minority in 1972, the five year old boy with his family had to flee to New York.

Thus began Zohran’s story with its deep, layered roots. Each place he lived – whether East Africa, South Africa, or the Bronx – contributed unique perspectives to his worldview. His multicultural upbringing also gave him a strong foundation that shaped his transnational identity. These formative experiences not only exposed him to concepts of migration, displacement, and cultural fusion at a young age but also grounded and instilled in him the importance of community building.

The unique background of a blend of various cultures and continents probably attuned him to the immigrant experience – the struggles with bills, debt, and fears of eviction, thus preparing him for grassroots work.

Mira Nair, who was regarded as a feminist filmmaker, often incorporated political and social commentary in her work. Growing up around her film sets, Zohran undoubtedly absorbed some crucial values. In addition to his mother’s influence, his father Mahmood Mamdani’s anti- colonial scholarship and activism also shaped another aspect of his character.

So the kid who developed a mindset shaped by cross-cultural dialogue, involuntarily also inherited a commitment to resistance and solidarity. His original mantra, which he chanted later as an adult, highlighted the need for every ‘storyteller’ to tell their stories.

Thus began his rapping vocation, with anecdotes, narratives and songs that often featured playful banter in a lighthearted tone. But even in his fun-meets-funky musical career, the storytelling element always remained prominent. At times he even referred to himself as the ‘Kendrick Lamar of Affordability’. It was with this brief background as a hip-hop artist that he started his political campaign.

But it isn’t wrong to say that his political career was built from the ground up because it began, not in the Capitol, but on the front lines, assisting immigrant families that faced eviction. From this humane foundation, Zohran’s outreach to his voters couldn’t have been anything but genuine and personal.

Emerging out of a fractured democratic party, he worked behind the scenes with dedication. He didn’t just knock on doors, shake hands at community centers or spewed hatred in speeches. Instead he spoke directly to the city’s massive South Asian diaspora through a language they understood deeply: Bollywood!

With the savvy use of Hindi film nostalgia, he leaned into his South Asian heritage to capture and command the attention of the younger, immigrant and working class New Yorkers. His outreach was multi-lingual. Speaking in fluent Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, Nepali and Tibetan, he engaged sincerely with the low-propensity voters who often felt overlooked. He wasn’t just wearing his heart on his sleeve but literally had it sewed on in the simplest and sweetest of ways.

In fact all his videos were quirky, charming and instantly shareable, thus making voting feel less like a civic duty and more like a cultural obligation. When he used racially resonant language to appeal to the economically strained communities, it somehow did not feel like just nostalgia bait. It was smart politics; something which every cunning old leader has been doing since time immemorial but something that never resonated well or sounded as authentic.

In a reference to the Gully boy, in one of his Hinglish videos he says: “Billionaires ke paas already sab kuchh hai. Ab, aapka time aageya’ (Billionaires already have everything. Now, your time has come).”

Zohran’s campaign wasn’t just a political aspiration to grab a chair and hold on to it. It was a bold attempt at campaigning with clarity, authenticity, strategic thinking and passion. It worked because it surprisingly uncovered a progressive underdog as a broad based leader capable of galvanizing the city.

Everything above the surface may have looked, sounded and seemed fun and playful, but deep down it was value driven and genuine. Below this unadulterated enthusiasm was something that is absent in the grandstanding of billionaires or the hypocrisy of politicians. And the result was symbolic- an affirmation of fairness in an emigrant city.

Through the politics of storytelling, Zohran Mamdani has built such a strong presence that now even his most formidable opponents feel threatened. But that’s not all his fans are heart-eyed about! Zohran is a firm believer in the ideal of a colourful world where everybody, whether Black, White, Brown or Yellow, will have access to basic rights and dignity. While this may seem like a utopian dream, he is determined to prove that fairytales don’t exist only in books but can also be found right in the heart of New York.

Even though Zohran has flooded multiple platforms with his content, his Muslim heritage has also drawn vitriol from some quarters. As has his criticism of Israeli policy and vocal advocacy of Palestinian rights. Some detractors accuse him of being anti-Israel, and some brand him as ‘Anti-Hindu’.

But despite the controversies, Zohran Mamdani has maintained his focus on his key campaign themes with iconic Bollywood film scenes and music focused on basic human needs like ‘Roti, Kapda Aur Makaan’. He may wear a suit and tie, but he's not your typical Starbucks guy. He eats rice with his hands, proudly showcasing his cultural flair using food to celebrate a shared identity. I mean, where do you get an American leader with multiethnic roots, advocating for economic justice with so much cultural pride? Somehow this young blood gives fresh hope. Not only in America but in India too!

Will he be elected? Only time can tell. But if he is, then this self described democratic socialist, will emerge as a winner in the battle between a grassroots movement and establishment politics backed by wealthy donors. And he will also become the first South Asian mayor of New York City’s best shot at transformative hope!

Any story that won’t let go of you or inspires you, even if it is one that will not necessarily change the world, needs to be told. So once you find it, let the world know about it.

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