JANA-GANA-MANA-RANN HAI
When I first saw the trailer of RANN, I was sure that the song is going to creat a kind of controversy, and that has happened, which is obvious. Also there is a news that, Sensor Board has banned this title track. All this is because the song uses the lines and tune of our National Anthem.
I agree, one has to be cautious while manipulating national anthem lyrics, as it is related to country’s dignity. But niether the lyrics nor the singing is bad. The ban is not right in my view, as it has no objectionable lyrics. Truth is clearly visible in each and every sentence and thats what hurting, “WE”, the people of India.
Those who dont want to see the reality and who are scared, the people of India will wake up and take action, against the corrupt system, only those can ban such a song.
I know, RGV is just using this song and people’s emotion to make money, what is so bad in it???
Someone rightly said “To me, a person eating chewing tobacco and spitting publicly on the face of my motherland is more of a criminal than someone who is twisting an anthem or getting thrills out of parodying it.”
Its very easy to criticize anyone but to come up with something concrete it needs guts and if someone has it appreciate that. We Indians are so used to live in our dream world, where India means Unity in diversity and Mera bhaarat mahaan. Indeed time has come to break the shackles and realize the truth.
Now before commenting what you feel/think, just listen to the song once [again], with the lyrics below. I am sure it will make you think, where have we reached in these 62 years of so called FREEDOM.
Jana gann mana rann hai
Is rann me zakhmi bhaarat ka bhaagya vidhaata
Punjab sindh gujrat maratha
Ek doosre se ladd ke mar rahe hain
Is desh ne humko ek kiya
Hum desh ke tukdey kar rahe hain
Dravid utkal banga
Khoon bahaa ker, ek rang ka kar diya humne tiranga
Sarhadon pe jung aur
Galiyon me fasaad danga
Vindh himachal yamuna ganga
Me tezaab ubal raha hai
Mar gaya sab ka zameer
Jaane kab zinda ho aagey
Phir bhi tava shubh naame jaage
Tava shubh aashish maange
Aag me jal kar cheekh raha hai
Phir bhi koi nahi sach ko bachaata
Gaahe tava jaya gaatha
Desh ka aisa haal hai lekin
Aapas me ladd rahe neta
Jana gann mangal daayak jaya hai
Bhaarat ko bacha le vidhaata!!!
Jaya hai ya yeh marann hai
Jana gann mana rann hai
I end this write up, praying, “Bharat ko bacha le Vidhata”.
S.H.A.A.N.Y.A. 
May 13th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
I completely agree with u.. movie is a very strong medium of communication especially in India. these guys should look at the big picture before coming up with restrictions. it is not degrading anything.. rather its showing the true face of corruption to the people…such power should not be given to people who actually run the corrupt system themselves.
May 13th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
This is sensitive topic. Nice attempt to give the punch. Sincerely speaking… fails to create an impact on the readers’ mind.
May 14th, 2009 at 7:38 am
Rightly said. but these are non-issues. Banning it only means restricting creativity. Respect to Nation and its entities streches far beyond paradoxical representation. it is rather a sense of pride and should be displayed in every individual’s behaviour..
May 14th, 2009 at 8:05 am
first of all the sensor board is crappy.. they delete stuff which are not to be …people should understand, just by saying we are proud to be Indians and stuff dosen’t make any sense. we keep doing such nonsense, fight on a song, fight for a small “temple” etc.. when will we change !!
“Khoon bahaa ker, ek rang ka kar diya humne tiranga” – iska matlab nahi samajhte hain log … kab sudrenge hum..kab sudrenge hum..
———–Hum ko bacha le Vidhata———
May 14th, 2009 at 8:42 am
I dont think RGV and team wanna create any kind of awareness in Indians. The main and sole motto behind this is to get the publicity for the movie. Why National Anthem to create awarness or disclose the truth. why not new lyrics and theme.. do we lack in creativity, so that we are using National Anthem?
About banning the song… thats what RGV wanted from sensor board… he got what he wanted… his sole purpose is half done. Waiting for post release reaction from people of India.
Jai Ho!!!!
May 14th, 2009 at 9:18 am
- To a great extent I agree with you Shaanya..they have in a nutshell tried to portray of whats happening today..and as Pavitra says..this is a very strong medium of communication.
- Another aspect of this would be to obtain more publicilty..which is a subtle marketing strategy.
- Tweaking the National Anthem is a sensitive issue and in our country..its certainly even more sensitive.
- As of consequence of such hard hitting movies..still nothing much has triggered in all of us..the after effects of these movies only will be active in our minds for a very small duration..we all need to actively improvise on this. (A recent example being a low voter turnout in all the metros for elections..including the youth).
May 14th, 2009 at 10:29 am
In india people cannot show their frustrations on their kids or wife or on their bosses at work …….so its very convenient for us to let our anger on public figures.
we are basically a nation of hypocrites………
May 14th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
“we are basically a nation of hypocrites………”
rightly said plan32 !
May 14th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
well,of course, the lyrics attract attention and interspersing it with National Anthem lyrics was the best way to make ppl sit up and take notice.
But the point is every once in a while, someone tries to make us sit up and take notice. We become momentarily alert,acknowledge the efforts of the person,listen n understand what he’s trying to say,agree with him,discuss with friends and THEN…..THEN get back into the routineness of our lives…..we never bother to think how we can contribute to positive change….at the most,we may do some tiny bit if the bad things start affecting our personal lives.
So the point is dont blame the Censor Board….de are jus doing their duty of upholding respect of nationally significant symbols and entities. National symbols and entities are meant to be used in their existing form only.Not meant to be mutilated as desired.If de dont take action, ppl wont think twice before disfiguring our national flag or emblem either. Everythin will get reduced from a pride-invoking entity to a caricature.We surely dont want this for our nation.
Same time,dont blame the movie maker. He wanted to get his point across and we need ppl to keep doing that bcos most of us jus sit like silent spectators and comment in our small circles. Atleast somebody has the guts to speak about all the filth degrading the society around us. Ok,maybe he did it for publicity and fame and money….big deal….y do u care a damn….all film makers keep money as one of the motives while makin a film..some film makers wud ,in addition to that,like to get a message across….most film makers keep giving out messages (often crap ones) on only love,romance and cheap flirting…we need to welcome film makers who can give out other messages as well
So bottomline is, we have no right to complain unless we are being an insrument of the positive change we wanna c around us.Let the film run ,let this song get all the attention(either for being banned or not) and let ppl read the lyrics over and again.Lets hope atleast few of them will ‘think’ about the lyrics as well.
May 15th, 2009 at 12:38 am
and yeah, not jus ‘think’ about the lyrics but translate it to positive action as well.
May 15th, 2009 at 3:47 am
easy to sit in US and worry about india, difficulf to go and work for it!
“We the (unfortunately)indian people”
we dont act , we just helplessly react!!!!
May 15th, 2009 at 10:40 am
My take on this…
…well more than what is written/said is appealing or not, who wrote/said matters the most. RVG, I know he always tries to do something different. He could have conveyed the same message in any other way. I know things are not the same as it is read in “Jana Gana Mana..” but it really hurts (at least me) that he used our national anthem to convey a message. Everyone is aware but helpless.
Is he different? Is he trying to bring the revolution in India or trying to make money? Is he trying to make India better or to make himself a good director?
Some questions need an answers.
btw, really a nice idea and beautifully captured in B&W!
May 16th, 2009 at 8:22 am
”
Is desh ne humko ek kiya
Hum desh ke tukdey kar rahe hain
Dravid utkal banga
”
Firstly an extract from the lyrics. What does he mean to say, Is it that :
Dravid (South), Utkal(Orissa) and Banga(WB) the diverse land with distinct language and culture are trying to split the nation on account of diversity ??
If So then the lyricist is wrong, he should understand that INDIA is A Unity in Diversity and killing Diversity is not the solution to Unity.
To state further,
Censor Board is just doing thier Job of protecting the respect to national Emblem and National Song.
He is trying to promote negativity by remixing the National Anthem. His ideas and views can be communicated effectively otherwise also the sanctity of the national symbols and National emblems have to be safeguarded by each Indian.
If RGV is not checked today then someone might pluck the spokes out of Our Estemmed National Chakra or deface the lions on National Emblem saying that Politicians are incapable and we the citizens vote for the ruthless.
Manipulation to Symbols of Indian Nationan is an insult to the country.
RGV can express his emotion in many other ways rather than capitalising hte billions of Indians Emotions.
May 16th, 2009 at 10:47 am
A very sensitive matter to touch upon, specially when the media is hungry for such events…or maybe RGV wants such publicity to market his new film. Though I don’t think meddling with a national anthem can convey any message.
May 16th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
its a typical conflicting blog
Ur views r both right and wrong
what RGV has projected in the song is right in every aspect but him using tune of national anthem to get all the un-necessary attention was wrong.. Its just a publicity stunt
which i quiet dont agree with and RGV is master of it.. My comments may be unacceptable to a revived youth, who may call me as a hypocrite, but thats what the truth is.. RGV’s idea sucks so does Indian youth, who just blame evrything without being part of the system.So I agree to disagree with your blog above.. Be the part of change and then talk all this bullshit whatsoever of being a responsible INDIAN, whatever you call it..
May 17th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Rather than blaming the c(s)ensor board, RGV needs to be reprimanded for producing crap movies and using cheap means to make money… This is hypocrisy at its maximum.
After viewing this, we will make a bee-line at the theaters only to be disappointed remember RGV ki Aag, James,etc.
May 18th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Probably people are used to this kind of stuff. Be it media, or entertainment, most selling goods is negative views/news.
As long as people like/watch this kind of goods, other people will make it to profit.
May 19th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Punjab sindh gujrat maratha
Ek doosre se ladd ke mar rahe hain…
Ha ha ha.. how silly the lyrics..
May 25th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
First thing that cought my attention is a phrase in the blog which I feel is not a right quote to be used in this context. I would comment on that before commenting on the actual issues.
Someone rightly said “To me, a person eating chewing tobacco and spitting publicly on the face of my motherland is more of a criminal than someone who is twisting an anthem or getting thrills out of parodying it.”
I dont know who said this, but its a most illogical thing to have ever said. Its agreed spliting in public places is wrong and those doing it should be treated with severe punishment to enforce some descipline and cleanliness in the society but how can that be viewed as splitting on motherland and how will it be different whether you do it publicly or privately without being visible to others? In that sense we all shit on the motherland, walk on it, throw all kind of dirty things on it. Then what are we suppose to do?
Basically this is a total wrong way of looking at it. Here we need to first understand the very reason why national anthem, national flag, national emblom etc came into existence? These things are there from centuries and in all part of the world. May be today we identify it as a country earlier it could have been several kingdoms. If I have to start describing it, it would take couple of pages to do. Neither I have to luxury of time to do and would prefer to leave it to individuals to think about it.
In short I would say whether its god or relegion or country, wheter the feeling is love or respect or pride or patriotism to showcase it humans create materialistic things it could be an idol, it could be a flag or an anthem we represent it in some form which we can hold on and kiss, hug, sing, pray, salute etc.
Our National anthem is also one such thing which is a wonderful composition to inspire people. It will have its value only when its played in a defined tune and in defined occassions. Today we talk about a common code that people should stand when national anthem is being played. It holds the value it has today when played on independency day, tears role out of eyes when its played as tribute to soldiers who laid down there lives for country. People do stand voluntarily with pride, affection, love and all emotions depending on the occassion when national anthem is being played.
Suppose if people can play it like any other movie song whenever they want in any remix form, think about how in reality it would look like? Can it still hold the same value it does?
The vary reason why it has created controversy is because it touches so many hearts, do you think this impact would have been there if the stardards were dilluted long ago and there were already several alterations of it?
Value of somethings are subjective and relative to people, for some it may be the most important thing for some it might be important but not that much that they can’t tolerate it or see it as embrassing.
May be for someone seeing lord “saraswathi” in skirts or jeans in temple could be objectionable and offending. For someone else it could be the flag or national anthem and for someone esle it could be something else.
May be what the lyrics says could be right for today, but if there is a way to put in some other means then why try to offend somebodys feelings?
I am surprised why playing national anthem in a movie “Kabe kushe kabe gum” was not questioned by sensor bord?
June 17th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
I’ve read the points here, and like everyone else…i’ll express my opinion.
I absolutely support RGV in his creative use of our National Anthem. What he’s saying is true, not false. And he’s not using the national anthem tune, rather just the words. And THAT’S what makes the impact stronger!
He took something we sing on a daily or weekly basis in assembly halls without a thought to the words, and changed them in such a way that when you sing along with this version…you notice what is being said.
I’m sure it must’ve taken A LOT of argument and discussion on RGV’s part, with his team whether to go ahead with this song. I’m glad he took the bold step, and has released it.
I back RGV to the fullest extent on the use of this song! And so do many of my friends.
–Abhishek.
September 20th, 2011 at 4:29 am
Thank you for the very informative writeup. in my experience things are slighly more complicated. time will tell, but the problem is I do not have enough time. it is good to know we are not alone in the struggle. but you might want to reconsider some fragments in your post. after all, if it can do all that, why do we even need the rest anylonger? just a bit. take care