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Structuralism has been replaced by post structuralism. Salman Khan has been replaced by Shahid Kapoor (That is very debatable though). Sholay being remade as Ramgopal Varma ki Sholay. The 80’s pop scene in India which comprised of mehnaz, Anadia and Shweta Shetty has now moved and made way for Bhangra, Sonu Kakkar and the likes. It is no different then, that Doordarshan’s classic ‘Mile sur Mera Tumhara’ has been replaced by a newer version.

Screened first in 1988, the song was one of the markers of my childhood. I remember whenever I switched on the TV this song would be on air. I was obviously too young at that time to understand the concept of national pride and national unity but this song made me feel really nice that I lived in a country that spoke so many languages. One of the striking things about the video was also the various locales that it was shot at and the various communities that it represented. The video did not just have film actors but people from all walks of life like writer Sunil Gangopadhyay, sportsmen Chuni Goswami, P.K Banerji, Gurbux Singh other than actors Deepa Sahi, Sharmila Tagore, Amitabh Bachchan, Mallika Sarbhai and a host of other people. My favourite part was obviously where the song goes Bengali and Kolkata’s famous Rabindra Sadan metro station is shown and the intelligentsia of Bengal walk out of the train. I can actually rewind that part over and over again.

Recently when I heard a new version of the song was being made I was very sceptical, I did not really think that the song would live up to its predecessor, however i was pleasantly surprised- I though the video was very well crafted and it gave more emphasis to the regional languages which the earlier one had just touched upon but not in great detail. The presence of the various stars obviously added a great star value to the video( like the earlier one) but it did not give enough emphasis on the sportspeople and it completely obliterated the fact that we have writers, poets and others who are also faces which constitute our great nation. While i was happy that Rituparna and Prasenjit got a place from Bengal in this new video I was sorely disappointed that the makers did not feel that Abdul Kalam, or Saurav Ganguly had a place in it. The video did not touch upon the Buddhist and Jains living in India who are also a part of our nation. Again i was happy that the video had a segment devoted entirely to sign language- which was one of the redeemable features of this video. I think comparing this video to the earlier one would be unfair since they are quite different from each other.

The makers I feel could have been a bit more sensitive when making this video and not crammed the sports people in the last few minutes of this otherwise long video (again a major criticism i have about it is its length- a staggering sixteen minutes as opposed to the earlier five minute one) but as far as the message of national integration is concerned it come across just well. On a personal note I obviously prefer the older version more than the new one but it’s up to the people of India who are represented in this song- what they feel the song conveys to their construction of nationalism and national pride.

-Rohit K Dasgupta-