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• May 15, 2025
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Literature is not about giving exams but it is about understanding life and feeling life as it is! Once you start breathing literature, it will hold you in its arms and protect you from unnecessary drama and social obligations. It will teach you to rebel against not-so-worthy socialization impacts and dare you to live beyond what you thought life is. This is not some bookish knowledge that can help you qualify in your UGC-NET English Literature exam.

Literature is a lesson on life, merging all the three horizons: past, present, and future. It is a continuous dialogue between humans and their surroundings. Today, we are discussing an important topic in literary criticism: ecocriticism. We are also going to analyze our favorite song from the movie Rockstar (2011), Sadda Haq using ecocriticism and ethos of beat generation. Cool! Do you remember the lyrics? Hmm….how can you forget it? You live it every day!

Ecocriticism is not just a part of literary theory in your UGC-NET English Literature syllabus. It is a theoretical framework which we are exposed to in our daily lives without fail. You must have read our recent blog on HCU jungles being cut. It was another ecocritical posthumanist analysis. If you have not read it yet, you may check our website and go through it. Let’s understand ecocriticism and thematic influence of the Beat Generation with the help of our favourite song.

Before analyzing the song, we must understand the A-Z of ecocriticism. If not completely, we must know the basics of the theory so that we understand the analytical part of the song. Right! Hmmm…you must be thinking why do we need to understand ecocriticism and beat generation using a song from UGC-NET exam perspective. After all, it is not some MCQ we are solving without fearing any negative marking. MCQs do not always help us to understand the analytical reasoning. That’s why we use literary pieces such as “Sadda Haq” as teaching tools to explain ecocriticism and Beat Generation in this blog.

What is Ecocriticism?

Ecocriticism is a dialogue between literature and the environment from an interdisciplinary lens where all sciences come together to analyze the environment and create alternative counterpublics for the correction of the contemporary environmental situation.

One of the major aims of ecocriticism is to study how individuals in society behave and react in relation to nature and ecological aspects. This theory has gained a lot of traction due to environmental destruction and increased use of technology. Ecocriticism is also referred to as “green studies”, “ecopoetics”, and “environmental literary criticism”.

A Norwegian philosopher, Arne Naess, developed the concept of “Deep Ecology” which emphasizes the basic interconnectedness of all life forms and natural features and presents a symbiotic and holistic world-view rather than an anthropocentric one. In Advaita Vedantic terms, ecocriticism is the newly defined Lokasamagraha, which is not anthropocentric. The concept of Lokasamagraha is about seeing the whole world as one.

Deep ecology and ecofeminism were two important developments. These new ideas questioned the notions of “development” and “modernity,” and argued that all Western notions in science, philosophy, politics were “anthropocentric” (human-centred) and “androcentric”(Man/male-centred). Technology, medical science with its animal testing, the cosmetic and fashion industry all come in for scrutiny from environmentalists. Deep ecology, for instance, stresses  “biocentric” view.

Now, let’s move on to understanding the Beat Generation.

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Beat Generation

This is another important topic which is covered in the American Literature and is a part of UGC-NET English syllabus. The name “Beat Generation” was introduced by Jack Kerouac, one of the original founders of the group. He used it as a way to allude to the perceptions of the group as underground and anti-conformist. The word “beat”, Kerouac said, was first used by Herbert Huncke and Kerouac appropriated it to mean “upbeat.” The group also liked the association with music. The beat artists and poets were experimental with the creation of their poems, as well as their subject matter and how they approached it. They were influenced by the work of poets like William Blake, in addition to the music of the period, specifically jazz, surrealism, and Zen poetry. Drugs played an important role in their understanding of their art, as did a broader disillusionment with literature in the post-World War II period. They freely explored the human condition and talked openly about sex, love, social issues, and others. The movement rejected traditional narrative elements of novels, short stories, and poems, and materialism.

What are counterpublics?

Preparing for Paper II is not that easy! You need to remember concepts such as “counterpublics” which we might translate to simply creating alternative spaces or possibilities. According to Nancy Fraser and Michael Warner, counterpublics form through cultural acts—poems, protests, performances—that speak from the margins.

Ecocritical Analysis of Sadda Haq

“Sadda Haq, Aithe Rakh” is a bold reclamation which forms a part of “counterpublic expression” and aligns itself with ecological concerns and radical ethos of the Beat Generation. Through this multi-dimensional analysis, UGC-NET aspirants like you may connect post-1940s literary movements with contemporary popular culture and environmental politics.

Let’s explore how the song gives voice to counterpublics—marginalized groups or discourses that challenge dominant ideologies—through the lenses of ecocriticism and the Beat Generation.

The song directly connects humans with the environment through its lines,

“O eco-friendly nature ke rakshak, main bhi hoon nature, rivaazon se, samajon se, kyun kaate mujhe, kyun baante mujhe iss tarah”

These lines directly refer to the concept of deep ecology proposed by Arne Naess wherein all lives are interconnected as suggested in the Advaitic philosophy. Sadda Haq embodies ecocritical resistance in subtle yet powerful ways.

Before these lines, we have a referential context, there is a playback dialogue:

“Pata hai bahut saal pehle yahan ek jungle hota tha, ghana bhayanak jungle, fir yahan ek seher ban gaya, saaf-suthre makaan, sidhe rashte, sab kuch tarike se hone laga, par jis din jungle kata, uss din parindon ka ek jhund, yahan se hamesha ke liye udd gaya…kabhi nahi lauta…main un parindon ko dhundh raha hoon.”

This is another aspect of deep ecology which criticizes the concept of development and modernity. It also questions the anthropocentric (human-centered) view of life and includes all life forms and concentrates on the dialogue between humans and ecology. The song also questions how development led to extinction of several species. The line “O eco-friendly nature ke rakshak” questions the human interventions and encroachments into natural habitats and destroying. Still, we claim to protect the environment and other species using our “useless” laws. Therefore, it subtly criticizes the shallowness in our existence without bothering about other species. This “calling out of names” is also causing a rhythmic awakening where the protagonist is questioning why we are so apathetic towards other creatures that we do not even care about them. The lines “rivazoon se, samajon se, kyun kaate mujhe, kyun baante mujhe iss tarah” also suggests deep alienation between the self and the others. It questions the duality in which we exist and the divided consciousness which forsakes to see through its internal and external world. It also suggests that we are unaware of our social bindings and we damage the environment because we are fragmented from within.

There are visual symbols of control used in the song (including barbed wire, security zones, curfews) which mirror how nature is territorialized in modern politics. The song’s demand for “haq” (right) becomes a metaphor for displaced communities, whose ecological relationships are severed by dams, deforestation, and militarization. The protagonist becomes a voice for eco-counterpublics—those who resist the anthropocentric, capitalist view of development.

Influence of Beat Generation in Sadda Haq

The Beat Generation, promoted by Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs, used writing as a protest against conformity, war, consumerism, and cultural repression. “Sadda Haq” mirrors this through:

• Raw emotion and non-conformity
• Rejection of societal expectations
• A protagonist who seeks authenticity over fame, just as Beat writers rejected mainstream success

Rock music in the song plays the same rebellious role that jazz did for the Beats: a rhythm of resistance and soul-searching.

Sadda Haq merges two frameworks: ecocriticism and beat generation. The song gives voice to people belonging to marginalized communities like displaced tribals who have lost their lands in the name of development or modernity. It also acts as counterpublic expression for individuals who are trying to understand themselves and often find themselves at crossroads when it comes to fulfilling social expectations. The song also criticizes systemic control, whether ecological or cultural. The song deeply embodies the ethos of Beat Generation which strongly believes in “the only thing worth writing about is what you’re afraid to say.”

It has become an anthem not only for personal liberation but also for collective resistance—from eco-subalterns to cultural outsiders.

Hmmm….sounds interesting! Right! Do you want to read such informative blogs on different topics? Let us know in the comments.

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