Phir mile sur… magar kis haalath mein!

twinsmom · Jan 28, 2010

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CVijaya%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CVijaya%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CVijaya%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml"><style>  </style> At the cost of being branded as a party pooper and a wet blanket, let me have my say. I am not generally critical of current trends, though I do miss certain things of my past. This Republic Day, one of my twin sons was with me. We are a family who watch the parade every year. When my twins were kids we used to persuade them to sit with us and watch it. Somehow our patriotic feelings used to get reinforced at such occasions.
On 26<sup>th</sup> morning, this year, I had the company of my twin son from Bangalore who’d luckily got a 4 day weekend. Around 7.30 in the mornin , I was surfing the news channels when K2 told me that Zoom TV was remaking Mile Sur Mera Tumhara and could we watch it please? So we zoomed in on Zoom TV. They were showing the making of Phir Mile Sur- how each montage was shot and with which artistes. As we watched we talked about the old one. At 8 O clock, they aired the new one.
As we watched Big B mouth the old and familiar words, the cynic in me murmured, “Why does it look like an Ad for Reid & Taylor? Why is he dressed like that? I didn’t speak aloud, wanting to see the whole thing before airing my opinion. As it continued, I was comforted by the sight of Pandit Shivkumar Sharma with son, Rahul Sharma, Anoushka Ravi Shankar and Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and sons, there stopped my appreciation of the remake. As we watched, it became an effort to integrate the Indian film industry rather than the country.
The three Khans were irritating.
Though the idea of singing in sign language was rather sweet, and the kids did squeeze our hearts a little, but Sallu Mian was an eyesore. When will Salman stop doing free ads for the Baniyan industry? Or is he on a life time endorsement deal with the All India Vests and Briefs Consortium?
The King Khan looked obnoxious as usual. So full of himself and himself alone… There was not even a smattering of patriotic expression on his face. He looked painfully inept!
Amir Khan seemed to be trying too hard to be gung ho! He was too filmy( mixture of Hey! Kya Bolthi tu and Tare Zameen Par plus hangover of 3 Idiots) and his music bit jarred.
Didn’t like Yesudas and son Vijay Yesudas ( whose lip synching is quite bad in the video) inside a studio. Had they been out in the open, it would have been nicer. The pictures seen through the window of the recording room disturbs their singing.
The Tamil montage was okay but Shobhana is too expressive for my taste and her dance was a bit jerky at times.
Though the Telugu montage was good and the chocolate box hero looked at ease, the senior citizens in the background seemed rather detached.
The Punjabi one was good, both Gurdas mann and Juhi Chawla giving a convincing act. The percussion trio was too short.
Bhupan Hazarika sounded too sad. Shivamani was spectacular.
Anoushka Ravi Shankar proved she’s the chip off the old block. She’s in her element as her fingers flirted with the strings of the sitar to create a mesmerizing cascade of notes.
The Karnataka montage that followed featuring Dr. L Subramanyam and wife Kavita (nee Krishnamoorthi) and their brood didn’t make a mark. The Kannada lines were muffled.
What is Deepika Padukone doing in that atrocity of a dress?
Priyanka chopra didn’t fit in the scheme of things. The voice sang too classical a piece, and Chopra looked out of place.
The Marathi montage was good and I am not saying it because I am afraid of MNS!
Sonu Nigam’s song and his looks clashed! He looked like a frightful weirdo!
Why was Shahid Kapoor doing a filmy bit of mile sur mere thumahara? It certainly is as far away from patriotism as he is from Kareena Kapoor!
Why does Ranbir look ill at ease or is that his natural look?
And Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachan seemed to be singing some romantic duet instead of endorsing their patriotic sentiments? Did they think they were still doing the Lux ad? Aren’t we getting an overdose of the couple as it is?
For me and my son, there were too many actors and too less touch with common man. Not enough coverage of sportsmen and women. We would have loved to see a Sachin Tendulkar with his son, or Abdul Kalam with a group of students or even a couple of young upcoming politicians if the producers were trying to endorse the patriotism of the India as Youngistan !
20 years back, I was younger than some of these ‘young’ actors presented here. But what I remember about the previous one was the faces like Bhim Sen Joshi, Lata Mangeshkar, Zakir Hussain with Allah Rakha Khan, Dr. Balamurli Krishna, flautist maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia . I loved the patriotic feeling that exuded every second of the old version. The new one is too, too, Bollywood! This I didn’t say. My son who is a typical youth of today, but with a very patriotic heart and definite views and opinions about his India said this and I agree with him.
Then, in the evening, the two of us ‘You tubed’ out the old one. As we watched the 21 year old Mile Sur Mera Tumhara made by Lok Sanchar Seva Parishad, we experienced that magic again. Tears filled our eyes, smiles, curved our lips and I saw my son breaking into goosebumps as Lata Mangeshkar’s voice burst forth out of Waheeda Rahman’s lips. We were drenched in a shower of sheer feelings of patriotism, which we hardly experienced with the new version…
And then, to add chocolate syrup to the ice cream of our nostalgia, we watched the Spirit of Freedom and the Desh Raag videos, unashamedly wiping tears of sentiments, as proud Indian blood throbbed in our veins. We watched, the Purab Se soorya Udaa video for promoting education, we played the Hamara Bajaj ad and the Amul Taste of India… the Ek Chidiya video…and we felt very, very Indian.
So, Zoom TV, Times Group, Vodafone and Kingfisher… do some more homework before embarking on such a project. India is not Bollywood…Bollywood is not India. In the old one, though there were actors…there were also the essential common man’s presence. We could identify with every montage there. There was a spirit of oneness in spite of the diversity of language and culture. As for the newly cloned version, I’d give full marks to the classical maestros and singers…but for the rest, it is thumbs down!

monifa13 · Jan 28, 2010

I fully agree with you Twinsmom because I also felt the same way. My dh and I watched the whole Republic day parade and when 'mile sur' was sung I just closed my eyes and listened to the song; after all It's the song of/from our country. We are like the 'Saadhaka birds' waiting for any tiny drop of anything from our land. I stood up and shed tears of joy when I heard our national anthem was played. I think nowadays our patriotism towards our country is being forcibly diluted and curdled from matter to water like whey with too much of filmy things and ofcourse of with too much politics.
But still, yes still, Bharath Matha Ki Jai...

irya · Jan 28, 2010

Very very well written. I felt the same when i saw the "Phir Mile Sur"....very Bollywood.....not bringing any Indianess in it.....Sad

Mindian · Jan 28, 2010

thank you viju for your review on the remake ...everybody is talking about it but i had no idea what it was, about ..Now i feel as if i have seen it you have not spared anyone hahaha
i enjoyed your post .The old one yes was too good with lata bhimsen joshi ohhh all the ladies looked gorgeous,no? hema ,waheeda, sharmila?
someone was commenting "atleast for this deepika should have worn something decent.".Now i understand
you reminded me of our days back in india..dh used to force us to watch the parade and very religiously bought those pin up small flags every year

StaarBearer · Jan 28, 2010

Well, the new edition is just filmy and evoking only commercial interests.
Given a chance, I would put the director and producers behind bars for hurting the sentiments of the original.

From when did filmy stars become saviours of India!!!

Jpatma · Jan 28, 2010

Twinsmom,
I must admit i had no notion what the movie was, but your narration has sprouced my interest.
You have analyzed it so well with reason and rationale.

But i must admit Bollywood sells well in India, they assume whatever they say and do is biblical truth. They think they are the forerunners of fashion and set the path of all Indians. Must admit some Indians do get carried away by them. It is upto us not to heroworship them.

Let me watch and give a you a genuine fb.
Jaya

Sriniketan · Jan 29, 2010

Twinsmom,
If any cine world personalities present in any function or in anything, do you expect patriotism, which is expected atleast on these days?

As I was watching SunTV programmes' preview for the Republic Day...I felt very sad...the program consisted mainly of movies, which are violent too..
some preview of the upcoming movies and interviews of actors/actresses. :bonk But to my surprise apart from this..this time, our actors, directors, actresses spoke some sense and they created awareness of global warming, why this is happening and what we can do to prevent it..
The only program :thumbsupon that day..is this one.

sriniketan

abibaby · Jan 29, 2010

Hi Twinsmom,

Very good review. I also got the same feeling. In the older version, you get a sense of attachment instantly. I guess that work was FROM THE HEART.

The new video is really bad. No sync in music, lot of bollywood stars. Is India only about bollywood? Disgusting. All these stars were just acting as in any other bollywood film. I guess the producers were more interested in satisfying the bollywood stars' egos than to come up with a genuinely patriotic album.

Thanks for the review.

Mythraeyi · Jan 29, 2010

Hi,

Well written piece. I have not seen the new one but do remember the old one. I find making these videos a little hypocritical given that there is really no feeling of unity or pride among Indians in general. In the last decade at least 3 new states have been formed by splitting existing states and there is an ongoing agitation to split AP. The MNS is hell bent on driving every non maharashtrian out of Mumbai.
How does this signify unity at all? Just a video with bollywood stars is not going to change attitudes. At best it is another music video, in my opinion.

smart_soul · Jan 29, 2010

Excellent Review Twinsmom... I almost burst with anger when I saw the baniyanwala khan and skimpily dressed Deepika padukone..
And the whole song is absolutely LOOOONG.... Annoying..