Jana Gana Mana Video

The Jana Gana Mana - Indian National Anthem was a historic video released January 26, 2000 to mark the 50th year of the India in Republic Day. It has the distinction of being released by the then President of India, in the Central Hall of the Indian Parliament. It was produced by Bharat Bala and Kanika Myer and published by Ministry of Culture, Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India.

Bharat Bala and A. R. Rahman came together to create a historic album called 'Jana Gana Mana'. This was a project in which over 35 top artistes of the nation came together to sing or play the Indian National Anthem, "Jana Gana Mana". The project had started as "Desh Ko Salaam" which was telecast in Indian TV channels and on the web on August 15, 1999, in which several great Indian musicians, from the classical to the contemporary, came together to give a soulful and modern rendition of the National Anthem. The video was released on January 26, 2000.

Artistes

The music was produced and arranged by A.R. Rahman. The video was produced by Bharat Bala Productions.

Vocalists

Instrumentalists

Bansuri: Hariprasad Chaurasia
Sarod: Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan Ali Khan, Ayaan Ali Khan
Santoor: Shivkumar Sharma, Rahul Sharma
Ghattam: Vikku Vinayakram, Uma Shankar
Mohan Veena: Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
Saxophone: Kadri Gopalnath
Chitraveena: N. Ravikiran
Veena: E. Gayathri
Sarangi: Sultan Khan
Sitar: Kartick Kumar, Niladri Kumar
Violin: Kumaresh, Ganesh

The Making

Bharat Bala and Kanika had been working together on various projects such as Vande Mataram (1996, 1998) and Desh Ka Salaam (1999) when they realised that there was not a single popular rendering of the Indian National Anthem. They thus decided to re-create the National Anthem in a year 2000 version, something that should be 'inspiring for young people to listen to.'

Bharat Bala Productions roped in A R Rahman to produce the music and 60 artistes were taken to Ladakh in North India to film the video for the instrumental version of the video. The final instrumental was a 40-piece string section along with Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Vikku Vinayakram and other instrumental maestros of Indian classical music. Most of the performances included two generations of maestros - fathers and sons. In Kanika’s words, "It was a huge musical unification... this anthem has so much of soul."

It is also notable that during the filming of the anthem with the Ladakh Scouts, there were about 500 jawans who fought during the Kargil war. The producers hoisted a huge flag about 40 feet long for the video in their honour.

Thota Tharini, an artist based out of Madras painted what is now the Vande Mataram logo for the video.

Error and Correction

There are many versions of this video in circulation. One of the versions has recitation of the words "Jaya He" (Victory to thee) four times, instead of three. This fourth time recitation of "Jaya He" by Asha Bhosle has been omitted in the corrected version.