Phir Mile 'Bollywood' Ke Sur

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

15th August 1988 Indians heard a song 'Mile Sur Mera Tumhara.' Few would have realised that this song would be something they would hum for rest of their lives. In the single channel Doordarshan era it was one of the most sought after programmes. The song which had Bollywood stars, musicians, cultural icons, sportsman and ordinary has its appeal even in the new millennium India. The song's popularity can be judged from the fact that it is one of the highest searched videos in YouTube.

Cut to 26th January 2010 and we get a remixed version of the original song which mesmerised us for more than two decades. To cash on this popularity of 'Mile Sur Mera Tumhara' and to spread the message of 'unity and diversity' once again in a rising and fast globalising India 'Phir Mile Sur' was conceived. But did it do justice to the original song? Is it better than the original which still sounds catchy after so many years?

First and foremost it seems more like a Bollywood ke sur thing than the unity in diversity thing which it intends to be. At 16 minutes it seems never ending montage of musical beats. What was the entire idea behind the entire song. Wasn't it to show 'unity in diversity'? But the beats of the song which never matched from one transition to another and it showed more of diversity and no unity at all. Salman Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan his wife Aishwarya, Amitabh Bachchan seem to be representing India to it's producers.

Cricketers have been snubbed. Can the producers explain why someone called Sachin Tendulkar doesn't find a space in the never ending video? Is there a bigger Marathi icon than Sachin? Or for that matter why leave out Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble or Rahul Dravid? Well bashing cricket seems to be the only justification of our poor performance in all other sports. When Abhinav Bindra and Vijender Kumar who feature in the video were buying peanuts outside their school Sachin was scoring runs for India!

And the never ending bias towards North East. In 2010 you would expect people to be a little more sensitive about such issues. But no NE is represented by a Manipuri boxer and Assam's Bhupen Hazarika. What about the six other states of the region? NE has lost not just in time but in terms of percentage from the original video. When a region feels alienated from the rest the people who conceived this video should shown some more sensitivity and intellect.

For all the hype it created, 'Phir Mile Sur' turns out to be a complete dud. It was more like an advertisement for Bollywood at international film festivals rather than a video which will unite India. The old Mile Sur still seems to be rocking.