Reclaiming voices: rap lyrics and identity in the urban landscape of the Hindi film Gully Boy

This paper examines how rap lyrics in Gully Boy construct identity, resistance, and socio-political critique within Mumbai's urban landscape. Drawing on Judith Butler's theory of performativity, it analyzes how language and embodied performance constitute subjectivity rather than expressing a pre-existing self. Through qualitative textual analysis of songs such as Azadi, Doori, and Apna Time Aayega, attentive to delivery, rhythm, and visual framing, it shows how Murad's Bambaiyya Hindi and code-switching enact a publicly legible subaltern identity. The paper argues that Gully Boy reworks global hip-hop into a localized form that both challenges and accommodates dominant socio-cultural structures.