JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground
HTML
<ul id="top">
<li><a href="">S#omething else</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#">Banana (parent)</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#">Link 1</a></li>
<li><a href="#">L#ink 2 (current)</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#">Not current</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#">Link 3</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Link 4</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
CSS
li {
padding:0 10px; }
li ul { padding:0 30px; }
#top > .current > a { background:red; }
JavaScript
var url = window.location.href; // (or however you prefer)
url = "#"; // For the sake of presentation
$('a[href*="'+url+'"]').parents('li').addClass('current');