When the Iconic "VW Beetles" was about to be re-launched recently,the hype created around it was enormous and VW were expected to surpass the nimbus of the vintage classic Beetles. But collapsing all the expectations, Beetles failed to stand up to its older cousin.
Same way, when RGV tried to bring back the glory of "Sholay", the bankruptcy he faced was unprecedented.
Now,why am I throwing these instances? Infact my pot was getting voided all these days without my thought feeds.So thought, why not get back with a thought on an anthem meant for national integration and its atrocious remake. Let me get in now. Here is a one-liner..
"Classics are never meant to be re-made. Leave it the way it is".
When ZOOM & TOI(page-3 cousins)were gurgling about the re-make of the iconic "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara" for past some days, I was very much skeptical around the hype, similar to their disastrous "Aman ki Ashes" campaign too. And as expected, TOI/Zoom turned out to be the "Balaatkaari purush". The new version seems to be raped and molested completely.
I still remember the song that had become as iconic as the National anthem in my kid-days.Aired on Doordarshan every Sunday morning during its golden era, iconic "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara was charming and simple .I had learnt the complete song by heard including each phrase of its entire 14 lingual lyrics. I used to even tell exactly which scene came with which “sur”.
And on Jan 26th, came the calamity. Felt like I had more gray hairs grown after I ceased watching the 16 minute long video.Now, what are the ingredients which has led to this havoc?
1. Almost all Bollywood stars - Feel sorry for the stars who couldn't make it to the list(Saifeena + Hrithik etc..) and to add, they can join Pakistani players in their campaign against "The Great snub".
2. Tolly+Kollywood stars without lip-sync - Sandalwood too snubbed!!:P (Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, where are you??? Time for some mayhem in "Namma Bengalooru":P )
3.Musicians- Rahman on his terrace,Sh-Eh-Loy in some desert, Sivamani in some jungle scaring the wild life, Air India's Amjad Ali Khan Khandan,Yesudas family, Bhupen Hazarika et al.
4. Shobana's jugalbandi with Shiamak- Had Shobana had li'l care for Indian classical dance, she wouldn't have performed an item number with Shiamak.
Now what arrested my vision?
- No big names in sports/science/business/Politics(!!). Reason - pricey to afford? Unavailable? or ignored?
- No big star shared the screen space. Come on, this aint any National integration. At least somebody had to perform together and share some space so that the duration could have been minimized.
- India is not after all about Bollywood/Movies. No sincere efforts were made to showcase our tradition/culture. It seemed, only the designer wear did the talking.
I feel, Doordharshan could do a revival of national integration theme by airing the classic song again and who knows, it could pull off some TRP's back in DD's favor. ha ha :P:P .
Now on an end note -
In our Engineering days, we had a contest for some fests named "Be-surdas" and as per the name ,we were literally invincible over there(:P).
Now if the older version of "Mile Sur.." was close to Surdas' "Sur", the molested version seems to topple us from the podium too.
12 comments:
Awesome Bro,Awesome....
Looks like the new version has gained the combined wrath of so many people! It should not have been remade at all! Am totally with you on this!
U should thank god that they didn't cast Rakhi in thr...
Nice way to put "Be-sur" Mera Tumhara-yes, its definitely different but not SUR-wise but the way you think!! The old classical Mile Sur is indeed the best, but for the genEXT the old classic may look "Be-Sur" as they cannot relate the people appeared in it with themselves.
Coming to the "ingredients" as you put up,
I feel today in India, people are non-biased by religion only when it comes sport/film stars, these two have such as gr8 capability in bringing INDIA together.
As far as Musicians,the theme is music will remain same with the power of UNITY, be wherever it is played.
Why so conservative about western, why can't we have a fusion, when each pay respect to other.
And About your vision
Sport-does it mean only CRICKET in INDIA?? we have Olympic heros, World champ Marycom,Shuttler Saina and others.
Politics- Aam Admi ka sur kabhi nahi milethe Polictians se nor the other way!!
Finally acceptance is the way, you shld try to look for positive in their effort, its not such an easy task to make such project.
Boomerang:In Phir mele, parts in which Amir and Salman appeared are fresh and heart touching and you newer spoke about it!!
@anee
Thanks dude.
@Aparna
Yes, totally agreed. The re-make itself was unnecessary.
@jabir
Haha ya, I definitely missed her. Paapa,she should have had her share too..Unfair..:P
@Shaz
Your take "but for the genEXT the old classic may look "Be-Sur" as they cannot relate the people appeared in it with themselves"
Agreed, but why wasn't the screen space shared. This is my primary concern with the song.
Older version had Big-B,Jeetendra & Mithun da , all huddled together. Nothing like that happened in ZOOMed version.Be it our musicians,fusion-sters or any "x-WOOD" star. All Khans together in a frame would have made my Sunday, sadly that wasn't the case:(
Regarding Sports,Yes, all Olympics stars must be given their due and they got it in the song. But why not cricketers? Even they are an integral part of Indian sports.Aren't they? May be, ZOOM had all its budgets dried up with Khans and Bachchans:P
Salman's gesture with hearing impaired kids was warm. But it could have been a lot better had it been done with decent clothing rather than advertising his Banians.
Finally again my one liner "Classics are never meant to be re-made.Leave it the way it is,please don't molest it".
"Soya bean" jaaga..:P
Well the video was an effort to portray the new, changing India through a New Dimension of the Sur that has also evolved over the years.
The people who did the video originally, did this one too. Except, that the TV which endorsed it was not DD(the only channel those days).
Very less sports personnel appearing in the video was a bad remark they didn't ignore them nonetheless.
The sign language concept was appreciative.
The Fusion of Classical(Shobana) and Western Arts(Shiamak) was symbolic.
Terming it "item number" was so blind of you.
Overall, Nothing bad about the video, it isn't captivating me, but I would still standby the classic, B'cos i grew up listening to it. Probably, my nephew would love this one.
DD still plays the classic video, unless u'd ever switched to DD.
Just cos u cant hum the new version "by heard", don't rant like an old grandpa. Im sure i can classify u as "an old almanac" types :P
@Fabulist
Old Grandpa wants to ask just one simple question to the "new" grandpa who is classified amongst the "modern" almanac types?:P
Is this a song on National Integration or not?
For me it was Bollywood + some X-wood + Musicians' expo with some added ingredients and was filmed with complete lameness.
I don't think an effort was made to show case a middle-class-Indian which was such a major component of this version's older cousin.
Of course our nation has evolved over past two decades but is this evolution only with Bollywood? This version seems to suggest only that,"All old stars' kids are ruling charts now in the B-town".
I would have loved to see true icons like Tatas-Murthys-Ambanis-Kalams in the video.
A single frame on India's space programme and more importantly, a short innings on our great soldiers would have made this blunder a better one.
You said "The people who did the video originally, did this one too". Can this mere fact make it a classic too?? Remember one thing, many Oscar achievers have Razzies in their cupboard too.
Now,I am better off myself as an old grandpa watching something meaningful & simple rather than being a young one and watching something as bad and as gaudy as this.
P.s: There were no Kannadigas in the video. Or may be they expected us to interpret Deepika/Aishwarya/Shilpa Shetty as Kannada-kanyamaNiyaru..LOL..:P
There were no Kannadigas..?
Look who's talking about national integration.
Obviously, when you cant appreciate anything about video, then its better you stay "an old almanac types".
Ohh.!! A person asking for a guy from Karnataka in the video shouldn't speak about National Integration ah? How fair is this Fabulist?
And I aint among any new age "Hippies" to admit anything & everything which is colorful as good and I would expect and insist my nephew too to follow this cos I know I am rightfully right here.
Your comment seemed more like a cultural divide and reservation types than of National Integration.
May be you wanted Rajkumar and Sons like the Bachchans to have featured in the video too. I get your disappointment now. Fair Enough!
And Poor Nephew...:D
Let me put it this way. Its not cultural divide, for me it is "cultural diversity" & National Integration. Diversity should have been displayed.I would prefer culturally diverse "types" displayed over Bollywood types any day.
And again,be sure with your words. India is more than film stars, be it Bachchans or Rajkumar clans. Karnataka has its own glory much beyond Rajkumars et.al. My entire blog was against X-wood's exhibition. Now,this seems like "unfair enough".
FYI, my nephew is proud of his "mama".:P LOL
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