Overview
- Zohran Mamdani was elected New York City mayor on Nov. 4, defeating Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa with a majority of the vote.
- As he left the stage after his victory speech, the Bollywood song “Dhoom Machale” played, with a Spectrum News anchor on-air calling it iconic and asking to turn it up.
- Composer Pritam, who created the 2004 hit, welcomed the moment as a perfect fit after seeing the widely shared video.
- Mamdani’s campaign leaned on film-inspired visuals, with the designer citing Bollywood posters as an influence and the mayor-elect bringing prior film-music experience, including work on Disney’s Queen of Katwe.
- He quoted Jawaharlal Nehru in his remarks and with this win becomes the first Muslim, the first South Asian, and the youngest leader of New York in over a century, with swearing-in set for Jan. 1, 2026.