'Phir Mile Sur can be updated'

Working on Phir Mile Sur was a very nostalgic experience for my entire team. Abhishek (Bachchan) told me how he used to run to the TV to see his dad every time Mile Sur would play. Priyanka (Chopra) recalled how she used to sing it in all the languages when she was in school. It was endearing of everybody to take the time out and travel to different locations for the shoot. Phir Mile Sur is also a way of passing down the baton to the second-generation artistes. For young performers, like Anoushka (Shankar), it was quite emotional because their parents had been part of the earlier project.

I do believe that if I knocked off 5-6 of the actors from the video, the audience interest would drop
Mile Sur was part of a trilogy that we had worked on between 1987-89. The first was Spread The Light Of Freedom, which was shot with sports persons; the second was Mile Sur with performing artists and the last was Raag Desh, which was shot with classical dance and music artiste. The people who have been included in Phir Mile Sur are those who the aam junta admires. They are capable of successfully delivering the message of national integration. When people see Amitabh Bachchan singing the song they will definitely stop to watch. I do believe that if I knocked off 5-6 of the actors from the video, the audience interest would drop.

It is true that Indians love cricket and music, but why be intellectual about such things? We did try to get Sachin Tendulkar and other cricketers, but the entire team has been flashing in and out of the country all through the year. It was difficult to get them to shoot. There was never an emphasis on sportsmen in the original storyline of Mile Sur. It was always performing arts. Sportsmen were added because they had become icons. The younger audience has liked the video. We had nearly a lakh hits on Youtube when the video went up.

It's not that Sachin will not feature in Phir Mile Sur. Maybe we will do a new edit that will feature cricketers. We were shooting till January 22 with the pressure of releasing the video on Republic Day. The date was the key thing for us. This is not the end of the video; we can keep updating it to include icons from the younger generation.

(As told to Aditi Sharma)

The multi-starrer "Phir Mile Sur" filmed by Aarti and Kailash Surendranath was launched on Republic Day