Phir mile sur

Zoom has launched the new version of "Mile sur mera tumhara" as "Phir mile sur". The video runs for more than 16 minutes. Some sites claim 60 celebrities while some say 70 icons have lent their support to this initiative. But, I could identify only 29 of them. Zoom has also given airing rights of the song to all major TV and Radio networks in the country. Today, I watched it in Times Now. Doordarshan with all its kendras is also expected to air the song. The song has been shot at many historical places.

The song starts with A.R.Rahman's music. In the beginning, I couldn't recognize the instrument. It looked like a Keyboard, but after sometime, I found it's name on one of the sides of the instrument. It's called as Continuum Fingerboard.

I thought Amitabh would come along with his son and daughter-in-law. He is the only icon from the original video to figure in the new one. Also, he is the only non-singer who has actually sung the opening lines himself. He sang in the backdrop of the Gateway of India. The song has also been shot near the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, where the 2008 Mumbai attacks had taken palce. The Shankar Mahadevan-Ehsaan-Loy trio sang near a sea-shore. I mistook the Sitar player Anoushka Shankar to Rukimini. She is the daughter of the Legendary Sitar Virtuoso Ravi Shankar.

Vikram sang on the shores of Elliot's beach in the backdrop of a Memorial. Many of us would have seen this memorial in a lot of movies, but we woudn't be knowing its significance. It is the Kaj Schmidt Memorial which was built to commemorate the gallantry of Schmidt, an European sailor, who had drowned near the spot trying to save the lives of others, on December 30, 1930. We have to thank the ZoOm team for shooting at this spot. Surya sang near a big stone, which I guess to be Mahabalipuram.

Aishwarya and Abhishek sang together in one of the temples. Mahesh Babu sang with a lot of elders and Zakir Hussain along with his two brothers gave a wonderful Tabla performance. Juhi Chawla sang near the golden temple. Shilpa Shetty sang with women installing Solar Panels. In Salman Khan's part, there was no singing. He, along with the deaf children sang the lyrics in sign language. Sivamani drumming in the water was very much different.

Amjad Ali Khan, the Sarod player performed with his two sons. K. J. Yesudas sang with his son and Mammooty, dressed in white dhoti did well. Louis Bank, the one who composed this music played along with his son. Shobana gave a Bharatanatyam performance. Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Aamir Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar did their part well.

Abhinav Bindra, Vijendra Kumar and Sushil Kumar formed a tri-colored outfit. Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal and Baichung Bhutia were other sports-persons.

The song ends with the Army, Navy and Defence parading, leaving the viewer's mind with the spirit of Unity in Diversity. The "making of Phir mile sur" videos have also been released and it's worth watching them.

Mile Sur Mera Tumhara

A few months back, in Youtube, I was watching some of the old advertisements telecast in Doordarshan.

The videos were really nostalgic and I was taken back to the days of Doordarshan. Then, I saw the National Integration song. As a kid, I didn't knew the lyrics. Recently, from Wikipedia, I came to know that Mile Sur Mera Tumhara was telecast for the first time on Independence Day in 1988. Also, the song's lyrics are unique. The song has one phrase, repeated in 14 Indian languages, but Sanskrit is missing.

"Mile sur mera tumhaara, to sur bane hamaara", meaning "When my tune and your tune merge, it becomes our tune".

Many celebrities took part in the song, but I could recall:

Amitabh Bachchan
Mithun Chakraborty
Kamal Hasan
K.R.Vijaya
Revathi
Hema Malini
Om Puri
Shabana Azmi

Balamuralikrishna
Lata Mangeshkar

S Venkataraghavan
Narendra Hirwani
Syed Kirmani

Pratap Pothen
AV Ramanan

It seems ZoOm has recreated the iconic song and is ready for release. The video first premieres on 26th January, 2010 featuring more than 60 of India’s biggest names from Music, Bollywood and Sports.

Amitabh Bachchan is the only artiste from the earlier music video to feature in the new version. It would have been nice if they had included those in the original one too. Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Salman, Shilpa Shetty and Deepika Padukone are the other celebrities from the entertainment sector to be featured.

Let’s see if the updated version of the song lives to its expectations! Anyway Old is Gold! No one can beat the original version.

33rd Chennai Book fair

I have heard about the book fair since my school days, but never been there. I was very much determined to go this time. My friends had given a very good feedback and asked me to visit it. Soon after getting the entry ticket, I entered the hall and was very much surprised to see the huge number of stalls. There were 466 stalls and I decided to go in an order from Stall 1.

Long back, I read the review of Akkaraipachai - Life of H1-B Software Engineer in the Land of Opportunity in Kungumam(Page 1, Page 2). Even the title is very catchy. The author has written one more book titled Dhooram portraying the life in villages. I went around the stall to get this book. But I couldn't find it. I have to buy from any of the book shops in T. Nagar.

As I was moving around, I noticed a person whom I have seen in TV. I couldn't recall his name but wanted to get his autograph. So, I went to his stall and browsed the books. From one of his books, I knew he was Muktha Srinivasan. He has written a lot of books and they were very cheap. I went through the books and picked one. Its price was just Rs. 18. I had a guilty feeling and picked one more book. After paying for the two books, I went to him and asked for his autograph. He asked my name with a smiling face and autographed in one of the books.

I knew the story of Mahabharata from the TV serial broadcasted during the Doordarshan days. Now, I am very much eager to get the essence of our epics.

Rajagopalachari has tranlated the Thirukkural into English. Seeing his work on Mahabharata, I grabbed this copy. He has also translated the tamil Kamba Ramayana into English.

I would buy books online or from Landmark. The tamil books in Landmark fill only a few racks. But there were lots of tamil publishers in the stall. Only in this fair I knew there were a lot of Tamil books and novels to be read.

My younger uncle had told me that to know Spiritualism, there is no good book in any language other than Tamil. This book has simple explanations for most of the religious practices in Hinduism and provides the logical reason behind them.

      

I haven't read any of Vairamuthu's books. Seeing Karuvachi Kaviyam and Kallikattu Idhigasam, I bought them. There were lots of books written by Sujatha and I went for Moondru Kuttrangal.

Then, I visited the Krishnamurti Foundatation stall. Krishnamurti was one of the famous philosophers.

He has written a lot of books and most of them were costly. They offered this book at a subsidized price of Rs. 50. This book was earlier published as This Matter of Culture.

I have seen Nithayanda's talks in TV and Open the door... let the breeze come in... (Kadhavai thira...Kaatru varattum...) is one of his famous works.

Though the books are printed in India, still they are costly. I went through the collections and this book felt strange to me. This book is in the form of Questions and Answers.

One of the common question is Why do we worry?

It was already 5'o clock and I decided to leave. Then, I saw a book on Pregnancy and went inside the stall. There was a book on Sex. I just went through a few pages and it was very interesting. This book is a compilation of all the questions and answers available in Doctor NDTV. The series includes Pregnancy, Child Development and Adolescence too. I have planned to buy them in the future.

As I was moving to the next stall, I found a book on Diabetes. This book is the Indian version of Diabetes for Dummies.

Soon after coming out of the venue, I found a lot of old book sellers on the pavement. I didn't have the intention to buy, still I went and saw the books. Now, I have decided to buy books only at the book fair. Just waiting for the 34th Book fair.