A nation about its ‘sur’ meeting

Indiarsquos national anthem lsquoJana gana manarsquo penned by Rabindranath Tagore is originally in Bengali Indiarsquos national song lsquoVande mataramrsquo by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee is in Sankrit Arguably the most popular song against British Raj during freedom struggle Iqbalrsquos lsquoSaare jahan se accharsquo is in UrduOutside of cinema soundtracks that curate patriotism as a musical genre the track that totally enthralled Indians since premiering on Doordarshan DD in 1988 lsquoMile sur mera tumhararsquo was in how many languages ThirteenWith the video shot between 30 public figures over 20 locations genuinely capturing linguistic and cultural diversity of India Who made this iconic songvideo happen Ad agency Ogilvy amp Mather OampMWho was their client Government of India that through its audiovisual agencies like DD Films Division FD etc used to hold monopoly over public serving messaging in the country What changedAs lsquoMile surrsquo director Kailash Surendranath recalls there was an instruction from the Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhirsquos office for a ldquofilm that makes Indians proud to be Indianrdquo Along the lines of the statersquos popular lsquoMera Bharat Mahaanrsquo campaign at the time from a world before globalisationliberalisation when Indian achievements werenrsquot as taken for granted as they ought to be nowDirected by Kailash Surendranath PicInstagramThis is quite similar to how Gandhi Indiarsquos youngest PM tired of content on the national broadcaster once had instructed V N Gadgil his IampB minister then to broadcast shows more reflective of ancient texts and Indian philosophy Concerns quickly interpreted this is how Ramayan and Mahabharat were instantly greenlit for DDLikewise going by the PMOrsquos original brief to OampM late creative director Suresh Mullick and Surendranath both sports fans came up with a simpleeffective videomdashldquoSpread the light of freedomrdquomdashwith Indiarsquos top sports stars running with a torch to a Louis Banks score inspired by Chariots of FireMy childhood memory of this 1985 lsquoFreedom Torchrsquo video is Kapil Devrsquos rhythmic leg muscles in slomo Also PT Usha running alongside a deermdashldquoa magical momentrdquo Surendranath recalls that just happened while they were shooting with the sprinter in IIT MadrasGiven the impactful outcome OampM was given another shot at the same brief with a longer screentime for the 1988 Independence Day Only they chose to focus on the arts this timemdashwhat became lsquoMile sur mera tumhararsquo Commendable that there wasnrsquot a diktat to include politicians in these statesponsored filmsThe lyrics to lsquoMile surrsquo Surendranath says were written by ldquoVinod Sharma also helped by Piyush Pandey a young exec at OampM then its superboss many years laterrdquoThe tune set to Raag Bhairavi was composed by Pt Bhimsen Joshi at his Worli studio Pt Joshi channeling Hindustani classical music recorded about 40 minutes which had to be compressed to a 30 to 40second clip for the final track arranged by Louis BanksThe great M Balamuralikrishna provided Carnatic componentconfluence to the song that he shot for in Mahabalipuram where actor Kamal Haasan simply tagged along because he wished to be by his guru sitting around as a studentEqually amazing that the biggest Bollywood stars of the rsquo80smdashAmitabh Bachchan Jeetendra Mithun Chakrabortymdashshared the frame for the first time ldquoThere were no entourage managers secretaries we shot their segment at Mehboob Studio in literally 15 minutes flatrdquo Surendranath says of the video that opens with Pt Joshi before a waterfallAnd that many assume to be Pambar Falls in Kodaikanal also known as lsquoLiril fallsrsquo for the iconic Liril commercial that Surendranath first shot to adfilmmaking fame with Except the lsquoMile surrsquo falls were in Khandala neighbouring Bombay ldquoto make it convenient for PanditjirdquoEverything you see thereafter is more a result of serendipity than strict storyboarding that adshoots must commit themselves to post clientapproval And therefore things organically happened such as ldquothe Malayali mahout suddenly dancing on top of an elephant during wildlife shoot at the Periyar National ParkrdquoSurendranath son of late Hindi film actorsinger who went by the screen name Surendra has had a prolific adfilmmaking career associated with some iconic campaigns lsquowashing powderrsquo Nirma Amul Butter girl in 3D lsquoGabbar Singhrsquo for BritanniahellipIn Bollywood his claim to fame may well be that he introduced Salman Khan on screen with a Campa Cola commercial His wife Aarti had first spotted Khan by the swimming pool at Bandrarsquos Hotel Sea Rock Surendranath says hersquos ldquobeen at the right place at the right time multiple timesrdquoWith lsquoMile surrsquo of course the times of singlechannel TVmedia were such that something created of emotional appealworth could survive public memory forever If not the nostalgia could carry it throughStill therersquos something about this gentle soulful 1988 anthem and video that you watch even now it makes your heart melt over such diverse culturestraditionspeople seamlessly melding as one For what is love for a nation if not empathy curiosity care for fellow nationals firstThere have been several patriotic songsvideos saluting the motherland or extolling similar virtues since Surendranath himself has directed a few including an elongated version of lsquoMile surrsquo filled with too many lsquofilmiesrsquo franklyHis lsquoRaag Deshrsquo from the rsquo80s with classical performers was lovely too His 2022 latest lsquoHar ghar tirangarsquo is a more muscular marchingtune about the Indian flag Nope none of them quite the same thing NoneMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper