Phir Miley Sur....Celebrating the Republic day of India

"First of all a HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY to all of  my INDIAN brothers and sisters"

Once there was a video, that would embroil my heart and soul towards the television...........this was ...I don't know.....15 years ago....back in that small village in Kerala...where I was unaware about computers or cable television.....All I knew was that.....I would sing along that mesmerizing track....MILEY SUR MERA TUMHARA.....with the most glorious faces of the nation- a young Amitabh (err...in his 40s)...Kamal...Suhasini....Ravi Shankar ji...and the lost goes on,,,,and on....and on.... (whom I couldn't even recognize then...:P). And now, on the occassion of India's 60th Republic day celebrations, THE TIMES group has unwounded a present................PHIR MILE SUR...................A recompilation of that same track.....the same words..............but in a new package.......a new AVATAR....
Yes.....an effort on the part of India's leading Media Group...............a rather......GLITTERING effort......
Kailash Surendranath has moved the camera to project his vision of EK SUR (UNITED VOICE) of the NAVBHAARAT (MODERN INDIA)......
The curtain fades......and a rising sun leads us to an enticing AR Rahman......pressing his magical fingers against the strings on his FINGERBOARD......producing a magic that takes you on a journey.....a journey covering miles......encompassing languages..........transcending cultures................A journey across INDIA.....

We see some of those faces from the classic version of the song..............Amitabh.....Zakir Hussain......Ustad Amjad Ali....etc etc etc.............
while most of the icons were seen with their sons....while Mr.Bachchan's son appeared with his....erm.....daughter-in-law too...;).....
Amitabh Bachchan's part has been shot at the TAJ.......significative of two objectives ---

• in remembrance of the 26/11 incident
• for a splendid view of the GATEWAY OF INDIA

Although the song starts off in Hindi.....but soon amalgamates into Tamil......Telugu....Bangla....Kannada.....Punjabi....Malayalam....Gujarati....Marathi.....and there were others which I couldn't reckon....
It was an all-star ensemble with the KHANDAAN of Bollywood unifying for the first time........Salman Khan didnt have to move his lips for he was seen with a bunch of mute children......while Aamir enacted his RANCHO - TAARE ZAMEEN PE role...with a bunch of kids....vocalizing something in the AATI KYA KHANDALA ishtyle....while SRK.....hmm.....wait...I will unveil that later.........
The Kingpins of Modern Tamil Cinema......CHIYAAN VIKRAM (Aparichit) and SURIYA(Hero of Tamil  Ghajini) waved their smiles for the video.................while Malayalam cine-icon MAMMOOTY lip synced to the voice of the LEGEND YESUDAS while his son VIJAY kept company...and the journey to Punjab was a spellbinding view of the HARMANDIR SAHIB (Golden temple)........while Gurdaas Mann and Juhi Chawla vowed to the theme of the song......Kavita Krishnamurthy symbolized Kannada.....Atul Kulkarni along with Sonali Kulkarni swayed in Marathi...........and out of the blue.......Parthiv Gohil filled the song with grooving energy as he belted along the gracefully dry environs of Gujarat............The Eastern side was enlightened by Rituparna Sengupta, Shaan and some other encapturing faces of that part of India........................While THE MISS PIGGY CHOPS (Priyanka chopra :P), Deepika Padukone also made an unorthodox appearance............maybe showcasing modern woman of India!....well...Deepika was perhaps replacing her father's place in the original...just as Anushka Shankar did for Pt. Ravi Shankar.....
Besides Rehman....the SHANKAR-EHSAAN-LOY trio also grooved to take the song an alternative genre...while Sonu Nigam was seen in the middle of a market in Faridabad....with a very artificial ROCKSTAR getup....while Shahid Kapoor made a gen-next appearance through a band of dancing LASERs......SIVAMANI's percussion on the water was a masterpiece....!Shobhana and Shiamik Dawar were seen bronzing traditional South Indian dance forms (Bharathanatyam and Mohiniyaatam) with Western moves...............
Umm...ya...now ..comes the SRK part.....he performs THE FAMOUS SRK SWAY.......with the WORLI SEALINK set as the backdrop.......................and whats the beauty about it????hehe....as expected....he's followed by KARAN JOHAR....(LOL.....and yea...in one of the blogs....the writer actually thanked God.....that FARAH Khan didnt make an appearance....to showcase the trio's celluloid FRIENDSHIP!...:P)
But.....hey....what's this ....?...........a bunch of filmstars...n directors...(er..KJo...too...:P)..........and musicians..and palm full of dancers..is that all.......????

Umm....quite specifically...YES!!!..............that is all......................well...thats what we saw in this remake...
Though towards the end a bunch of OLYMPIANS (Abhinav bindra..Vijender..Saina Nehwal etc)........were showcased at LIGHTENING SPEED...as a formality....and mind it...there was not even a single cricketer...or hockey person!...(ehh..except SRK....remember..KABIR KHAN...umm...frm CHAK DE!.....:P)

Well...thats most of it.....the music and lyrics were almost the same as the original one except little improvisations in the middle.......which well..sounded awesome at places....and faltoo at a few....In a world full of hypocrites...................glitter is an appreciation.............but if you go deeper.....you will feel.....a VOID!

Yes! This new compilation seems less pretty...and very crude.....when compared with the original one.....which was...err....is a MASTERPIECE...........You really wanted to salute to all those faces and words throughout the song.................while this new version....with a MODERN MAKEOVER doesn't have that effect until we reach the end where everything fades into the last line of our NATIONAL ANTHEM...........
Even though....time has changed....but after looking at the video...one feels...if technology was retarding through this course of time....!!!! I mean.....the camera work and blending of visuals seemed much more beautiful and matched in the original...while inspite of an EXPONENTIAL growth in Cine-technology....this newer version fails to communicate....or touch.................Yes...it is...good....but then that's it!
ITS GOOD!
not the best...not even better! Maybe BHARATBALA could have made a better video............(REMEMBER AR RAHMAN's MAA TUJHE SALAAM?)
so to sum up.................ZOOM's so-called PREMIERE of EK SUR..............(which they call it PHIR MILEY SUR) was glittering.....very much! Maybe the younger generation.....which was deprived off the CLASSIC version.....would feel this is AWESOME.....but....in my views.....this was GOOD with all that glitter

But then...............ALL THAT GLITTERS MIGHT NOT ALWAYS BE GOLD.....SOMETIMES THEY ARE JUST BRONZE!


JAI HIND....जय हिंद....ജയ് ഹിന്ദ്‌...ஜெய் ஹிந்து....ಜೈ ಹಿಂದ್....జై హింద్....