Jana Gana Mana RANN Hai! Taking Creative Liberties with the National Anthem!!

“THE NEXT TIME YOU LOOK AT NEWS, THINK AGAIN” proclaimed the full page advertisement on the front page of The Times of India on 11 Oct, 2009. The advertisement was a poster for Ram Gopal Varma’s upcoming flick, Rann. It had Amitabh BachchanAmitabh Bachchan with his palms joined in a Namaste mode as a myriad television screens in switched-on mode played on in the background.

11 October also happens to be Big B’s birthday and I thought it was a great way to wish the megastar though I am not sure if that was one of the intentions as the advertisement itself did not make a mention of it.

For the uninitiated, ‘Rann’ means battlefield – and the movie grapples with issues unfolding on the battlefields that are today’s newsrooms and as also on various ground zeros – wherever they might be!! Very fittingly, the title of the film (shown in Hindi) on the poster carried the words, THE NEW(S) BATTLE!

The purpose of this report is not really to reel on about the poster advertised on the broadsheet but to dwell upon the merits of the song in the movie which goes by the words “Jana Gana Mana RANN Hai.” The song created a tremendous buzz as well as attracted controversies galore when teaser promos of the film were first launched earlier this May. It is understood that the usage of the words Jana Gana Mana in the song violate the National Honour Act of 1971 given which the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) might eventually ban the airing of the song (which is based on the national anthem) in the movie.

Ram Gopal Varma, who believes that the song is all about “what the national anthem stands for (in today’s context)” is understandably miffed. According to him, Rann depicts the battle between commoners and the powers-that-be of today’s cut-throat society. The song fittingly brings out all the contemporary problems the country has been facing - be it terrorism or riots, poverty or debt-ridden farmers’ suicides, murders, rapes or be it floods and famine. For a man on the street these might be real issues but for power mongers these could just be symbols that come in handy for stoking vote bank politics.

The song might or might not eventually make it to the big screen. If it does it might not do so in the form originally intended by the director/producer of the movie. So, let’s catch the full song here. Do check the video at the top of this page for the song. The song’s gonna stay with you for a long, long time!!

- myVox