India sings Phir Mile Sur..

There is probably no Indian who wouldn't have heard of Mile sur mera tumhara. Most of us grew up listening to it on Doordarshan. It brings back the childhood memories. I vaguely remember starting to watch this on DD when I was 7-8 yrs old and knew the entire song, with lines in all languages (I still do). Released in 1988, this video about national integration which was pretty much like a national anthem and brings out a medley of the country's languages and diversity, is definitely a legend....

But the question is, can we recreate the legend? Well, you can surely try but probably cannot! The new contemporary version - Phir Mile Sur premiered today on TV on the account of Republic Day. Zoom TV has been airing nothing but this since morning and I've watched it a zillion time already... It was a good thought and effort by Vodafone/Times Group and it is no doubt beautiful. The setting, screenplay, direction are truly brilliant. It presents India in its true glory but according to me, it failed to create the magic. First of all, the song/video is way toooo long (16mins) and seems like a drag. It doesn't sound all that melodius like before, coz of a too many additions. And above all, it's supposed to be a national integration video, so what are SO MANY bollywood stars doing in there?!!! Most of them look very superficial, especially Ash and Deepika Padukone. To me, the best part of the video was that of AR Rahman, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Amitabh Bachchan...I feel more diversity in the artists chosen would have looked better.

Phir Mile Sur is no doubt good, but Mile Sur Mera Tumhara still remains immortal for the impact it created on the nation....old is gold..

Here is the Part 1 of the video...and full video is available HERE