‘The Virtual Jana Gana Mana’ reimagines the world’s greatest anthem bringing India together

2024-04-25 03:11:06 Miscellaneous

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August 17th 2020: ?The Virtual National Anthem? hit Google Search, the Youtube masthead and Doordarshan on Independence Day. It was a larger than life coming together of voices of Indians - from the mountains of Arunachal Pradesh to the expanses of the Thar desert, launched on India?s 74th Independence Day.

2020 has socially distanced India, a year when Indians have been cut off from each other. This film brings up strong emotions as we see Indians from all corners of the country sing the anthem together. The voices collected by Google AI were placed into a larger than life first of its kind cinematic reimagination of Jana Gana Mana by Bharatbala and his team at Virtual Bharat.

In a first ever unique collaboration between Prasar Bharati, Virtual Bharat and Google, India was invited to sing the national anthem with an AI powered musical experience which was cinematically captured under the direction of the iconic filmmaker Bharatbala and his Virtual Bharat team.

Bharatbala said, ?In a time when we have all been so distant from each other - to bring the people of India together virtually ? basically to create a virtual bharat ? was my reason to partner with this idea.

My new idea for India - Virtual Bharat is about bringing India together virtually ? bringing Indians together around short films about our culture - all in one place digitally. So this was a natural and perfect combination of all factors and the creative challenge was that there is a first of its kind technology that brings voices together in a unique AI musical experience. How do we use Indian voices without them feeling like technology and instead feeling human. How to retain the raw emotion? Above all how to maintain our deep and genuine reverence for the greatest anthem in the world.

Ideas like these need one-of-a-kind vision and a real Indian spirit. My genuine thanks to Sanjay Gupta, Country Head, Google India who called me at midnight in July with the vision of India singing together on Independence Day and I knew this was the perfect collaboration.

?In 2000 we created Jana Gana Mana with 50 Indian Maestros. For me this was a new expression for the anthem with an engagement enabled by cutting edge AI technology. It was a perfect fit?

What Google is doing as part of its Google for India vision is unprecedented. To lift every aspect of Indian society through digital transformation is a genuine vision. So it gave me great confidence and comfort that they were the right partner with a genuine vision for the country. We are extremely happy about the final film and hope it resonates with every Indian in India and in all parts of the world!?

About Virtual Bharat - A person who breathes life into his visuals through real people and places, filmmaker Bharatbala tells Indian stories with a universal sensibility in the most exotic locations across the subcontinent. He is renowned for his grand visions for India, his most popular being Vande Mataram Ma Tujhe Salaam, inspired by father, an idea vision that took audiences by storm and 23 years later is still sung across stadiums and clubs when the youth want to feel a big India emotion. His other celebrated projects include the Incredible India adfilms which branded India and put the country the global map, Jana Gana Mana featuring 50 of India?s classical maestros and Gurus of Peace, a documentary on the Nobel Peace awardees in which Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and major world leaders are seen saying Vande Mataram. His first feature film, Hari Om, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2004 and travelled to over 35 international festivals. He then went on to make his critically acclaimed second film, Maryan, starring actors Dhanush and Parvathy.

Bharatbala?s current big idea for India, Virtual Bharat, is a 1000 film journey on the untold human stories of India. The project premiered in August 2019 and has, in a few months, generated great appreciation across the nation. There are over 13 films released on Virtual Bharat's YouTube Channel. They have been tweeted about by everyone from Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani, Nitin Gadkari, Shashi Tharoor, William Dalrymple, the Indian Ambassador to the United Nations to AR Rahman, Shreya Ghoshal and Aditi Rao Hydari.