Many many years ago, they made a 'video' called 'Mile sur mera tumhara' for public broadcast on Doordarshan channel. Back then, in 1988, the concept of a video, or an audio-visual/song-n-dance, disembodied from a movie, was practically unheard of. Not surprisingly, of course, since the medium on which it was to be published, that of the television, itself was fairly new in India. By 1988, though, television sets had stopped being considered a one-off, a luxury that only a few could afford, and most houses had a set each. The middle-class, most certainly did!
The initiative for this video was taken by the Ministry of Infromation of India as part of an attempt to highlight the "Unity in Diversity" fact(or fiction) of India; A notion that the nation-state follows up in theory with an obsessive frenzy almost. A fanaticism with secularism, but a fanaticism, nonetheless. Something that had started with Bankim's Bandemataram, this idea seemed to catch on gradually and has, since then, become fairly popular and convenient-the idea of trying to highlight the fact of unity inspite of a mind-baffling range of diversities that make the nation India. From text-books to public messages, this is a point that has been driven home deftly. Or atleast such attempts have been indefatigable.
This video was obviously created towards that same end, of forging a sense of unity, of integrity among a people as different from each other as different could be. The medium chosen was the clincher, the secret behind its huge success then, and its lingering appeal today. Televison, for the first time, was carrying the same message across homes throughout the length and breadth of the subcontinent. Things were made even simpler since DD was then the only channel. How far the actual message was understood, is suspect, but what is undeniable, is that, it created a mass fan-following that did infact create a virtual unity, a sense of one-ness, that was new and sparklingly bright.
A whole lot of memories surround that one video. With time, it came to be representative of a certain time, a certain way of life, the beginning of the process of cinestars, so far unattainable, becoming more approachable, coming closer home. Beautifully orchestrated and coordinated, it is something that may safely be called a masterpiece, in that, any attempt to copy or 'remake' it (the current fad among a generation that is bending over backwards to prove their own lack of ingenuity), is to be considered nothing short of blasphemy.
I watched the new video for 'Mile sur mera tumhara' today. And I was aghast! What was the need for this? Except to prove, by holding in sharp relief, the extreme contrasts in quality of the two videos? It is crass, disjointed, adhoc, haphazard and necessarily therfore has the three "iconic" figures of India today- the three Bachchhans, who MUST appear in all videos clinging together, batting disgustingly fake eyelashes in oh-so-repulsive coyness. Yes, it also brings into frame starkids, from that side of the television screen to this; kids, for whom, this video was an integral part of growing up, now feature in its morphed version. And who on earth gave the singers the liberty to twist and turn the original tune to suit the whims of their vocal chords? I can never understand why people need to distort a perfectly neat tune with unneccessary undulations, in an effort to prove their scale and versatility. One trait that single-handedly mars most live performances, and makes me yearn for the original rendition.
Coming back to the basic question-what was the need for this remake? One can perhaps understand the need for the original when placed in the context of the time it was created in; but this? What excuse is there for such colossal wastage of money, insult of sensibilities, tarnishing of memories and mockery of people's intelligence? I think its a farce, peopled with new-age smart-alecs like that semi-punk semi-hippy semi-god-knows-what Shankar Mahadevan.
In a way, however unfortunate may it sound, it does actually mirror India's condition today. Haplessly in search of an identity, any identity, fissured and falling apart, and efforts to hold it together being damnably contrived and palpable.
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4 comments:
This video is exactly like a misplaced effort at catching a passing fancy....
It is a nowhere thing. I could almost hear the words of a ostentatious poet of our century as the pre-conscious of your post.....
"Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;/ Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,/The blood-dimmed tide is loosed,/and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;/ The best lack all conviction, while the worst/
are full of passionate intensity."
Dear Minko, let us put the poem in perspective. At one point, when I had just finished Achebe's book, I was very interested in this particular poem. Yeats was profoundly disturbed by the losses following in the wake of WWI and thought the world as he knew it was dead. I have no business agreeing or disagreeing with him. But it does appear that he had nothing to invest in the new world and thought all that is best are over for good. It is a point of view, and therefore not amenable to reasoned arguments. What I find intriguing about the song however, is an overt admission that the eighties are very relevant. As a child who grew up in the eighties, I have all along felt very disturbed by the wholesale garbage dished out to the eighties by our cocksure analysts. In that sense it gave great pleasure that these very characters had to hark back to the eighties when they had to string together an appeal to a constituency larger than their own selfish niches. Eighties, I have always maintained, were the last time when creative people still dreamt for everyone. I miss that warmth and concern today. I am very proud of the eighties.
anirban da- i think all of us here are children of the eighties, and have fond associations with the time. but i think minko is just tralking about the new video, which indeed is a nowhere thing. that the centre today cannot indeed hold, need not require a special spelling out.
I have not commented on the quality of the video, which I agree, is quite dubious. In that sense I second you both. The video is perhaps a bad tribute, but a tribute nonetheless that those were important times and taught us much. I have a hunch this will at least provoke a good number of better tributes to the eighties. It is in that sense that I welcomed its arrival.
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