Phir Mile Sur Mera Tumhara; To Sur Nahin Bana Humara..!!

Its another Republic Day and yes, for most of us what matters is that its another day off from office. How much I wish I was in India to be relaxing on my living room couch and watch the Republic Day Parade pass through the foggy Raj Path than being forced to work on this day in a foreign land.

Surfing the net today, came across various news articles on the Republic Day and its celebrations. But one which caught my eye and made me anxious to quickly know more is the launch of the song ‘Phir Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’ by Zoom TV.

This was one of the songs we loved watching when we were kids in the time when television was a luxury. But today, thanks to Youtube, could dig it out easily on the web to ensure I don’t remain anxious to know more for long. But alas, the excitement died within the first few moments of the video.

It starts off with what has kind of become a norm now to have A. R. Rahman making some musical note. And in the first frame itself, it distracts the audience from submerging in the music to paying more attention to the ‘Continuous Fingerboard’ instrument which he is playing akin to a nursery kid learning to write alphabets on a slate.

Next frame we have the Big B starting off with the lyrics with a remixed version of the original background score. Seems okay at this point as well as but after this, it goes from bad to worse. Shankar Mahadevan’s facial expressions while humming the simple lyrics are as much in passion as a classical vocalist singing a verse in high pitch. And the list goes on from there.

The themes played by Anoushka Shankar on the Sitar, Shivkumar Sharma on the Santoor, (and some other artists whom I could not recognize) just seem to be playing spoilsport times too many to break the rhythm. Adding a Punjabi verse to the song Gurdas Mann sings the verse as if it’s a toned down bhangra lyrics.

And everyone from Shankar Mahadevan, Shaan, Sonu Nigam, Shiamak Davar and even Shahrukh Khan are more engrossed in showing up the extra bit of passion, that they forget that the song would have felt much more better with a pleasant and soothing screenplay. Someone should have told them that the song is very much for demonstrating the power of national unity and not a display of acting skills. Keep something for the movies as well..!!

And what’s happened to Sivamani the drummer? He looked hitting the drums in such a tragedy which makes you wonder whether the Chennai SuperKings just revoked his on-ground drumming contract.

In the latter half of the video, we almost have the who’s who of Bollywood fighting for screenspace. Shahid Kapur (doing a Chance Pe Dance), Priyanka Chopra, Ranbir Kapur, et. al. The most frustrating moment for the viewer is when Deepika appears to be singing in the most classical manner as possible providing a perfect un-classical contrast of being clad in a short dress exposing her cat-walk assets. Makes me wonder whether they stole this from one of the deleted scenes of Bachna e Hasino song. And let me not go to her facial expressions (or the lack of it) which is an telent in itself.

Amidst all these negatives, I personally liked the part picturized on Abhi-Ash. Both look pretty good amidst the backdrop of what looks like one of the Ajanta/Ellora caves. The phrase featured on Shilpa Shetty amongst a bunch of female handicraft workers is a perfect example of unity in strength. Marathi version with Atul Kulkarni and Sonali Kulkarni is well kept short and sweet, akin to Tanuja’s act in the original one. And the peak point of the song is definitely stolen by Salman Khan who amidst the physically challenged kids helps create a jolly environment. That was fantastic.

Also, the fact that its only and only Bollywood focused on this song except for the fag end of it where we have a brief note of the Olympians batting for the cause. Everyone would agree that cricket is akin to a religion in our country but the cricketers are conspicuous by their absence. Voices have already been made on would there have been a bigger brand ambassador for national unity and integration than Sachin Tendulkar? One of the tweets I read yesterday mentions (and rightly so) that even if the focus was only on Bollywood, wouldn’t having all the three Khans in the same frame been a greater message on the subject? Missed opportunity now..!!

To sum it up, in the quest to re-create the song with a modern touch, what this new video lacks to do is create that sense of unity (or the need for it) which was felt in every bit and part of the original one. To put it simply, the song lacks the originality, creativity and continuity. It were these three attributes that made the song so melodious to hear to even in the black and white era.

This is not the first time that Bollywood has come together to put up a music video for a cause. There have been multiple instances of such act lately and the most recent ones being the MJ Tribute (Click here to view). In fact the MJ tribute christened as ‘Make it Large’ was really special in terms of paying tribute to the musical legend by a music composed and delivered by the best the best of music and testimonials from leading personalities of our film industry.

However, this is a perfect example of a novel idea gone wayward in all directions. Sometimes, doing something new helps to bring in a fresh initiative and perspective as an outcome. 'Vande Maataram' songs from A. R. Rahman as well as Lata Mangeshkar in the last decade have proven this well.

23:43 hrs, 27th January, 2010

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Below links provide quick access to the the original song we loved listening to as well as the new one which is in 2 parts. Dont forget to post your comments, opinions and feedback.

Mile Sur Mera Tumhara (Classic)

Phir Mile Sur Mera Tumhara Part 1

Phir Mile Sur Mera Tumhara Part 2