Anjapally Nagamallu is truly a super cop. No, he doesn’t punch five goons in their faces at once nor does he chase offenders down the winding lanes in Hyderabad. Still, people recognize Nagamallu at traffic signals and click selfies with him. Popularly known as ‘Police Anna’, Nagamallu is now a familiar face in the city, all thanks to social media which helped the cop in his fight against fake news. A year after Nagamallu’s song on fake news brought him media attention, the 36-year-old traffic CI today is a social media star who also heads the cultural troupe of the Hyderabad police department.
Nagamallu’s song videos are about anything and everything he considers is important. From fake news to traffic awareness to cyber frauds, he has released more than 30 videos in the past six years. With over 1.4 lakh subscribers, Nagamallu also has a YouTube channel where he uploads his songs.
Speaking to TNM, the traffic cop recounts his journey which began in 2013 when he first released a CD of his songs while social media in India had not exploded to the extent that it has now. The complete venture cost him Rs 1.8 lakh which he paid from his own pockets.
“Back in 2013, CDs were still popular in the city and my main target was to make the songs popular among the youth. If you look at most of the crimes committed, the people who are involved in it are mostly between 20-30 years of age. Delivering sermons and speeches to them have been tried and tested for long. I wanted to do something creative and entertaining which would attract the attention of these youngsters. So, I began composing songs which I believed was a better medium to communicate with today’s generation,” Nagamallu says.
He embarked on his second project in 2015, and by then, Nagamallu had learnt how to run his own YouTube channel and he also started a page on Facebook. But, it was when he released his song video on fake news that the officer truly hogged the limelight. The song came at a time when the Telangana police department was fighting relentlessly against the spread of rumours, especially in the rural belts of the state.
“Seeing my passion for music, it was Mahesh Bhagwat sir (Rachakonda police commissioner) who commissioned me to compose a song on fake news. The song went viral on WhatsApp and other social media in both the states and even today, whenever I see a video clipping in Telugu creating awareness against fake news, it mostly begins with my song on the same,” says Nagamallu proudly.