Ambimama - India

The words that had the nation all those years ago: ‘‘Miley sur mera tumhara, toh sur baney hamara?’’

Indians needed it and it was given by Doordarshan. A 16-minute film was launched without fanfare on August 15, 1988, and quickly slipped into nation’s bloodstream.

The 60th anniversary of the republic to being ‘‘mahaan’’ is a booster. Entirely re-filmed ‘‘Phir Miley Sur’’ records the new beats of India and it is sung by 69 icons instead of the original 26. ‘‘Phir Miley Sur’’, presented by The Times of India, and supported by Vodafone, Kingfisher Airlines and Taj Hotels, was launched on Monday — the eve of the 60th Republic Day — by Amitabh Bachchan. If Delhi’s fog prevented the I& B minister, Ambika Soni from doing the honours as scheduled, it was arguably the triumph of fitness over form.

The Big B represent Hindi cinema, the country’s biggest unifier, he was also the only icon from the original video to figure in the new one. Not just that, he is the only non-singer who has actually sung the opening bars himself, and then slipping his hands into his pockets slipped into his unmistakable oratory.

Bachchan is there, this time with Abhishek and Aishwarya. It is a continuum of the patriotism parampara and perhaps a link into ‘‘Phir Sur Miley’’, whenever that is made to record the next spike in the India balance sheet. Louis Banks, who arranged the music for this film, is there with his son Gino; Amjad Ali Khan with Aman and Ayan; Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma with Rahul; Zakir Hussain is there with his brothers Taufiq and Faizal Qureshi — and his eight tablas; L Subramaniam is en famille. And Deepika Padukone takes the place of her badminton ace father as she sings in the rain.

‘‘Phir’’ may have the same words but it is palpably, six packs-ly different. You can feel it in the cyber rush of A R Rahman’s finger board, unveiled here for the first time, in the throb of Shankar Ehsan Loy, in the musical tandava of Shivamani and the electronic twang of the instruments.

The timeless India of its religions, its monuments, its languages is as much on show as Rau Sahib’s stunning photography unfolds phir sey. .

You can check it for yourself on Zoom today, and clear for yourself the doubts expressed by one cynic who had asked its CEO, Suresh Bala, ‘‘Yeh item number key channel par Mother India kaisey?’’