12 musicians shoot for National Anthem video

Stories of their sacrifice continue to inspire generations.Now, the crème de la crème of the music industry will pay tribute to the cavalry of the Indian Army through a music video on the National Anthem. It's a unique rendition with music by Sonu Nigam and Bickram Ghosh, while Riingo is in charge of shooting the video.

“I had always wanted to shoot a music video on Jana Gana Mana.When I broached the topic with Bickram one day , he immediately gave his nod. My idea was to pay tribute to the lowest rank of the Indian Army -the subedars,“ said Riingo.
In Picture: Neeti Mohan

The percussionist was so impressed with Riingo's idea that he took it upon himself to bring on board 11 of the country's best musicians. Within a week, Sonu Nigam, Ustad Rashid Khan, Neeti Mohan, the Nooran Sisters, Purbayan Chatterjee, P Unnikrishnan, Pt Ronu Majumdar, Pt Tarun Bhattacharya, Pt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Papon and Kaushiki Chakraborty were looking forward to collaborate.
In Picture: Kaushiki Chakraborty

Bickram, who along with Sonu, secured an Oscar long list nomi nation for the Original Score of Jal early this year, is upbeat about his current project. “ After Jal, Sonu and I were discussing, what next? We are busy with our individual works, but wanted to further our collaboration with the kind of music we believe in.That is when this idea was born.Both Sonu and I have great love for our country .
In Picture: The team with the Nooran Sisters, Jyoti and Sultana

And it is this feeling that helped us complete the project in 10 days. It wasn't easy . I was in London and Sonu in Africa. It was also a task to get the song recorded by each of the artistes and then getting them down to Kolkata for the video. But in the end, Riingo has done a fabulous job. The video has a muted classy edge to it, that is characteristic of the soulful music I believe in,“ said Bickram.
In Picture: Ronu Majumdar

‘It was fantastic to work with Riingo as well as so many other revered musicians. Riingo is a very lively person on the sets,’ said Papon. "The atmosphere was that of camaraderie and that definitely added to the video. I must say Riingo has done a fantastic job of conceptualizing the entire thing," he added.

Both the director and the composers wanted to make a video that the younger generation could identify with. That, added Bickram, was the reason they tapped into all the genres of Indian music from folk to Bollywood and Indian classical to instrumental.
In Picture: Purbayan Chatterjee

Apart from giving his inputs to Bickram and Riingo on the project, the master vocalist, Sonu Nigam, was also seem giving a few tips to Ustaad Rashid Khan's son Armaan, who accompanied him to the shoot. Needless to say, Armaan, who sang a few lines to Sonu, was overjoyed with his 'wah wahs'.

“We made sure not to tamper with the anthem in any way . But the rendition is very personal. Bickram and Sonu have made use of a combi nation of Indian classical and neo-classical elements in the score. Thanks to their eclectic treatment, it has turned out fantastic,“ added Riingo.
In Picture: Ustaad Rashid Khan

"We did not want the generic kids running with the national flag video. We wanted it to tell a story. That is when we came up with the idea of paying our tributes to the subedars. These are not people of the top ranks who strategize from behind the scene but the people who actually go out on their foot to the borders and take bullets to their chests," informed Riingo.
In Picture: P Unnikrishnan

"It’s the National Anthem. We could not experiment with the Original. What we could, was work on the music arrangement. The shoot went really well. Riingo and his team were really spontaneous and the hospitality he offered us and all the other artistes was very warm," said Sonu.