On the eve of the 65th Independence Day, The Times of India unveils the full version of the national anthem, with 39 voices—including Dr M. Balamurali Krishna and Nithyashree Mahadevan—singing the additional four Bengali verses penned by Rabindranath Tagore.
Also read: Say Ee Mungu nguvu yetu Ilete baraka kwetu
churumuri 
maybe I am in a minority here.
National Anthem should never be allowed to be recorded when there is no gurantee that it would be played with all due respect it deserves..
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Very aptly depicts the state of the nation. Mediocrity is the new creativity. Harshavardhan Neotia has raped the anthem to the fullest. If only he had seen Bharat Bala’s works, he wouldn’t have thought of making this. What more can you expect from TOI? Mile sur raped, now Jaya he…what’s left? Vande Mataram?
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@G: Once they added the extra four verses and tweaked around with the way it it sung, it ceases to be the ‘national anthem’ being played. Just think of it as just another patriotic song.
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correction: Just another commercialised patriotic song attempt. [Second thoughts after second viewing. :-)]
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It would have been more apt, reflection of times, if they had shown A.Raja, Kalmadi, Kanimozhi, Dinakaran, Dayanidhi Maran were shown mouthing the Anthem …
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@Vinay
Vande Mataram will be left alone lest anyone brand TOI communal and fascist.
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Yes, this cannot be said to be the national anthem but a patriotic song written by Gurudev Tagore. In spite of a few discordant notes, it was nice to hear so many stalwarts sing.
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@Vinay.
What blasphemous suggestion is that? Vandemataram is communal Chaddi(pink?) Fascist Nazi ideology.
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Though I disagree with TOI, and there is some problem in using National Anthem to promote a commercial brand,
My God! I was in another world…. listening to it. (Partly because I have a huge inferiority complex, that I am the worst singer in the world.)
But wow! Seeing Balamurali Krishna, Hariharan, Pandit Jaswaraj, Chaurasia’s flute….
I didnt see (hear) Ustad, did I?
Sorry guys, for praising something associated with Toilet Paper of India… (Again, may be because I am a big zero in music. )
But old Doordarshan songs were sweeter? (because they were more simple? or may be just because they are from an old golden period?)
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How many know this!
‘Jana Gana Mana’
– Just a thought for the National Anthem! How well do you
know it?
Our national anthem, ‘Jana Gana Mana’, is sung throughout the country. Did you know the following about it?
I didn’t. I have always wondered who is the ‘Adhinayak’and ‘Bharat Bhagya Vidhata’, whose praise we are singing. I have always thought it might be Motherland India!
To begin with, Jana Gana Mana, was written by Rabindranath Tagore in honor of King George V and the Queen of England when they visited India in 1919. To honour their visit, Pandit Motilal Nehru had five stanzas included that are in praise of the King and Queen. (And most of us think it is in praise of our great motherland.)
In the original Bengali verses only those provinces that were under British rule, i.e., Punjab, Sindh,Gujarat, Maratha were mentioned. None of the princely states, which are integral parts of India now, such as Kashmir, Rajasthan, Andhra, Mysore and Kerala, were recognized.
Neither the Indian Ocean nor the Arabian Sea were included
because they were directly under Portuguese rule at that time.
Jana Gana Mana implies that King George V is the lord of the masses and Bharata Bhagya Vidhata, or ‘the bestower of good fortune’.
Here is a translation of the five stanzas that glorify the King.
Stanza 1: The (Indian) people wake up remembering your good name and ask for your blessings and they sing your glories (Tava shubha name jaage; tava shubha aashish maage, gaaye tava jaya gaatha)
Stanza 2: Around your throne, people of all religions come and give their love and anxiously wait to hear your kind words.
Stanza 3: Praise to the King for being the charioteer, for leading the ancient travellers beyond misery.
Stanza 4: Drowned in deep ignorance and suffering, this poverty stricken, unconscious country? Waiting for the wink of your eye and our mother’s (the Queen’s) true protection.
Stanza 5: In your compassionate plans, the sleeping Bharat (India) will wake up. We bow down to your feet, O Queen, and glory to Rajeshwara (the King).
This whole poem does not indicate any love for the Motherland, but depicts a bleak picture of it. When you sing Jana Gana Mana, whom are you glorifying? Certainly not the motherland. Is it God? The poem does not indicate that. It is time now to understand the original purpose and the implication of this, rather than blindly sing as has been done the past 60 years.
Maybe we should shift to Vande Mataram or Saare Jahan Se Achcha,
which are far better compositions in praise of India.
Please don’t break the chain — let’s see how many people get to know about this.
BE PROUD TO BE INDIAN.
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glaring omissions:
1. spb
2. shreya ghosal
3. kailash kher
4. lata mangeshkar
5. asha bhosle
6. bhupen hazarika
7. ar rahman
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Quoted Without any comment:
“The poem was composed in December 1911, precisely at the time of the Coronation Durbar of George V, and “Bharat Bhagya vidhata” and “Adhinayaka” is considered by some to be in praise of King George V and not God. The composition was first sung during a convention of the then loyalist Indian National Congress in Calcutta on Dec. 26, 1911.[2] It was sung on the second day of the convention, and the agenda of that day devoted itself to a loyal welcome of George V on his visit to India. The event was reported thus in the British Indian press:
“The Bengali poet Babu Rabindranath Tagore sang a song composed by him specially to welcome the Emperor.” (Statesman, Dec. 28, 1911)
“The proceedings began with the singing by Babu Rabindranath Tagore of a song specially composed by him in honour of the Emperor.” (Englishman, Dec. 28, 1911)
“When the proceedings of the Indian National Congress began on Wednesday 27th December 1911, a Bengali song in welcome of the Emperor was sung. A resolution welcoming the Emperor and Empress was also adopted unanimously.” (Indian, Dec. 29, 1911)
Proposed arguments
Many historians aver that the newspaper reports cited above were misguided. The confusion arose in British Indian press since a different song, “Badshah Humara” written in Hindi by Rambhuj Chaudhary [3], was sung on the same occasion in praise of the monarch. The nationalist Indian press stated this difference of events clearly:-
“The proceedings of the Congress party session started with a prayer in Bengali to praise God (song of benediction). This was followed by a resolution expressing loyalty to King George V. Then another song was sung welcoming King George V.” (Amrita Bazar Patrika, Dec.28,1911)
“The annual session of Congress began by singing a song composed by the great Bengali poet Babu Ravindranath Tagore. Then a resolution expressing loyalty to King George V was passed. A song paying a heartfelt homage to King George V was then sung by a group of boys and girls.” (The Bengalee, Dec. 28, 1911)
Even the report of the annual session of the Indian National Congress of December 1911 stated this difference:
“On the first day of 28th annual session of the Congress, proceedings started after singing Vande Mataram. On the second day the work began after singing a patriotic song by Babu Ravindranath Tagore. Messages from well wishers were then read and a resolution was passed expressing loyalty to King George V. Afterwards the song composed for welcoming King George V and Queen Mary was sung.”
On 10 November 1937 Tagore wrote a letter to Mr Pulin Bihari Sen about the controversy. That letter in Bengali can be found in Tagore’s biography Ravindrajivani, volume II page 339 by Prabhatkumar Mukherjee.
“A certain high official in His Majesty’s service, who was also my friend, had requested that I write a song of felicitation towards the Emperor. The request simply amazed me. It caused a great stir in my heart. In response to that great mental turmoil, I pronounced the victory in Jana Gana Mana of that Bhagya Vidhata [ed. God of Destiny] of India who has from age after age held steadfast the reins of India’s chariot through rise and fall, through the straight path and the curved. That Lord of Destiny, that Reader of the Collective Mind of India, that Perennial Guide, could never be George V, George VI, or any other George. Even my official friend understood this about the song. After all, even if his admiration for the crown was excessive, he was not lacking in simple common sense.”
Again in his letter of 19 March 1939 Tagore writes,
“I should only insult myself if I cared to answer those who consider me capable of such unbounded stupidity as to sing in praise of George the Fourth or George the Fifth as the Eternal Charioteer leading the pilgrims on their journey through countless ages of the timeless history of mankind.” (Purvasa, Phalgun, 1354, p738.)
…”
– From Wikipedia
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Why should we not change our National Anthem- “Jana Gana Mana…”
http://krishnazarticles.blogspot.com/2011/12/why-should-we-not-change-our-national.html
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