The Nation Sings ..!!

26th January, 1950 saw a change in India. India emerged as a Republic Country, its constitution was framed and Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the first President of India. Hence onwards, this red-lettered day is celebrated every year on the 26th day of January as the Republic Day of India.

As a kid, I have known this day as one on which the national flag "Tirangaa" is hoisted... sweets are distributed and patriotic movies are telecasted on television. But as the mind matured, I started learning the deepend thoughts behind these celebrations. One thing that could not change is the effect of the patriotic songs telecasted before... Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, being one of them. This legendary video was telecasted for the first time in Doordarshan (India's number 1 channel then) on 15th of August in the year 1988. It has some kind of mesmerized effect which lasts till date. It fills one's mind with the sense of oneness and makes one feel proud for being a part of the great culture of a great Nation. The song featuring the wide diversity and mixed cultures of India is composed of 14 languages namely- Hindi, Odia, Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Kannada, Malayalam and Urdu. Then finally it ends by fading into the final notes of the Indian National Anthem. The video consists of various famous personalities of India from various fields like movies, sports, art, culture, etc. Some of the notable faces in the legendary anthem are of Amitabh Bachchan, Mithun Chakraborty,Tanvir Ashai, Kamal Hasan, K.R.Vijaya, Revathi, Jeetendra, Waheeda Rehman, Hema Malini, Tanuja, Sharmila Tagore, Shabana Azmi, Deepa Sahi, Om Puri, Dina Pathak, Meenakshi Seshadri (Actors: Film and T.V.) Mallika Sarabhai (Dancer), Mario Miranda (Cartoonist), Mrinal Sen (Filmmaker), Sunil Gangopadhyay, Annadashankar Ray (Authors) Bhimsen Joshi, M Balamuralikrishna, Lata Mangeshkar, Suchitra Mitra (Singers) Narendra Hirwani, S Venkataraghavan, Prakash Padukone, Ramanathan Krishnan, Arun Lal, PK Banerjee, Chuni Goswami, Syed Kirmani, Leslie Claudius, Gurbux Singh (Sportsmen),etc.

The song was re-recorded and telecasted again on January 26, 2010. The lyrics were same but the order of the appearance of languages changed. The song features Indian musicians, singers, sportspersons and film personalities from the current generation. The current version (little over 16 minutes) runs longer than the older version (little over 5 minutes) and has been directed by Kailash Surendranath who had directed the original Mile Sur Mera Tumhara as well. The new version also retains music composer/arranger Louis Banks who had co-composed/arranged the original Mile Sur Mera Tumhara as well. Though some eminent personalities like Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam and Sachin Tendulkar are missing in this version, yet this is also loaded with stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, A R Rahman, Sonu Nigam, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Prasenjit Chatterjee, Baichung Bhutia, Mahesh Babu, Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Shaan, Bhupen Hazarika, Kavita Krishnamoorthy, Dr. L Subramaniam, Anoushka Shankar, Mammootty, Shivkumar Sharma, Rahul Sharma (musician), Gurdas Mann, Juhi Chawla, Ustad Zakir Hussain (musician), Thetakudi Harihara Vinayakram, Vikram, Surya, Abhinav Bindra, Sudarshan Patnaik, Shilpa Shetty, Abhinav Bindra, Vijender Singh, Sushil Kumar, Karan Johar, K J Yesudas, Shiamak Davar, Shobana Chandrakumar, Shreya Ghosal, Rohit Bal, Priyanka Chopra, Louis Banks, Rituparna Sen Gupta, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan Ali Khan, Ayaan Ali Khan and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Although the new version came into being, yet it could not deteriorate the effect the originl score had. But I would say, it's a very good attempt indeed. Though I spent the whole day watching the premieres of the new one, yet it could not energize me the way the previous one had. But all the same, the whole idea is conveyed... our nation is one, despite all its lacunae and differences... we stand united, despite all the conflicts and barriers... singing the anthem "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara.... Toh Sur Bane Hamara"..!!