In 1988, after the Independence Day speech by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at the Red Fort, a song was telecast. Millions of Indians heard it for the first time and it has since become India’s unofficial song. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song did not demand patriotic pride but evoked it<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recognized even today, the opening scene with Pandit Bhimsen Joshi is enduring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song emerged from a conversation between Rajiv Gandhi and Jaydip Samarth (brother of Tanuja and Nutan) of OBM (Ogilvy). He reached out to the creative head Suresh Mullick. Doordarshan wanted a song of unity song. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Suresh had worked with Kailash Surendranath earlier for the Torch of Freedom song\/ film and he knew Kailash could handle a production of this kind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a huge task and took 6 months to produce. And the film was known for its production values which exceeded all the standards at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mullick decided to fuse Carnatic, Hindustani classical and modern music, choosing Raga Bhairavi<\/em> as the base (Pandit Joshi’s recommendation).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Louis Banks and P Vaidyanathan blended the music and arranged the final score, which was sung by M Balamuralikrishna, Pandit Joshi and Lata Mangeshkar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lyrics were by Piyush Pandey & developed by Lok Seva Sanchar Nigam. The 6-mins song was sung in 13 languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The concept of unity in diversity was conveyed not only through music but also through the personalities it featured from various fields like actors, dancers, cartoonists, filmmakers, authors, singers, musicians, sportspeople and many more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There could have been no better representation of India\u2019s multitude of cultures and achievements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n