India’s torrid love affair with Michael Jackson is well known. Virtually all of India’s youth knew him, with many wannabe Jacksons trying to moonwalk, dress and sing like him. Verus Ferreira traces India’s connection to the King of Pop on his birth anniversary 29^th August, 1958.

Much before Wacko Jacko made it to India for the HIStory concert, its people had already heard his music, dancing, singing.  From small villages, to rickshawallahs to fans, music lovers and top celebrities, MJ was famous.

Jackson represented so much that was great about the American story, his story.  In a land littered with brutal racists, religious bigotry, misogyny and caste chauvinism, Indians loved this black man as one of their own.  For his Indian fans, MJ’s blackness was almost an afterthought, for it was more of his music and dancing.

It’s no wonder then that in the song Black or White, a female dancer dressed in red and gold, is matching steps with Jackson to Odissi dance moves. The 21 seconds clip was shot on a Los Angeles expressway with the duo dancing with stunt drivers whizzing past them through the foreground and background.  

India was seen once again during the final verse of the song, where Jackson is on a large sculpted torch, which the camera pans out to reveal as New York’s Statue of Liberty. Jackson is seen singing on Lady Liberty's torch surrounded by other famous world structures, one of them being the Taj Mahal. This was one of Jackson’s most controversial songs against racism, something he had never done before. We could add that MJ was always ahead of his time and delivered a perfect message, as seen from the recent George Floyd killing in the US this year.

When it comes to making biopics or movies inspired by legends, then nothing can beat Bollywood. It is for this reason that director Remo D'Souza’s (who is a huge fan of MJ) film ‘Anybody Can Dance’ (2013) was inspired by Michael Jackson. Choreographer – actor – director Prabhu Deva has often been pegged as the Indian Michael Jackson and being part of the film, it was obvious that he would pay tribute to the King of Pop by doing MJ’s signature moves in a song in the film, in his own style.

In 2016, Jackson’s diehard fan Chandrasekaran of RC Golden Granites, Chennai made MJ ‘live’ on at a Chennai University. A rare, not 100 percent look-alike, 10-foot statue cut from a single black stone was dedicated to Michael Jackson. The Gary, Indiana, US born star was forever frozen to MJ’s hit song Beat It.  The statue weighing 3.5 tonnes was made by six sculptors who took 45 days to chisel the singer whose birthday is celebrated today. The statue was inaugurated by (who else?) Prabhu Deva.

Bet you didn’t know that our very own Dil Se man A. R Rehman worked with MJ on a single Ekam Satyam in 2001. The song is a duet sung by the maestro and is composed by Rehman. The track is part Sanskrit and part English. Rehman has rendered the Sanskrit portion while Jackson handles the English part.

MJ has inspired legions of musicians and dancers in India, with several imitating his trademark moves, the pelvic thrust, the sideways glide, and the iconic moonwalk. In fact, Ranjeet Singh (a traffic cop from Indore and a die-hard MJ fan) uses moon walking to direct traffic. That’s the power MJ had over anyone who saw him dancing.

India got a first- hand experience in witnessing the God himself take to stage and mystify his crowd (read fans), with seemingly complicated dance moves, defying the laws of physics, when MJ visited India in October/November 1996.

Throughout the concert, Michael showed his supreme love for India when he reiterated, ‘I love you India’ and ‘Sabse Pyara Hindustan’. When Michael left the Oberoi hotel, the staff found a pillowcase signed by him.

The message the singer scribbled on the pillow he slept on:

“India, all my life I have longed to see your face.

I met you and your people and fell in love with you.

Now my heart is filled with sorrow and despair for I have to leave,

but I promise I shall return to love you and caress you again.

Your kindness has overwhelmed me,

your spiritual awareness has moved me,

and your children have truly touched my heart.

They are the face of God.

I truly love and adore you India.

Forever, continue to love,

heal and educate the children,

the future shines on them.

You are my special love,

India. Forever, may God always bless you”.

– Michael Jackson

By Verus Ferreira

Photos of Michael Jackson’s house in Gary, Indiana – Verus Ferreira