Re-imagining the world's greatest anthem

To celebrate India's 73rd Independence Day, filmmaker Bharatbala and his team united every Indian digitally by launching 'The Virtual National Anthem' on August 15, 2020. It was larger than life coming together of voices of Indians, as every voice came from the mountains of Arunachal Pradesh to the expanses of the Thar Desert.

2020 has socially distanced India, a year when Indians have been cut off from each other. This film brought up strong emotions as every Indian, from all corners of the country, sang the anthem together. The voices, which were collected by 'Google AI', were placed into a larger than life first of its kind cinematic re-imagination of 'Jana Gana Mana' by Bharatbala and his team at 'Virtual Bharat'.

In a first ever unique collaboration between 'Prasar Bharati', 'Virtual Bharat' and 'Google', India was invited to sing the national anthem with an AI powered musical experience, which was cinematically captured under the direction of the iconic filmmaker Bharatbala and his 'Virtual Bharat' team.

Bharatbala said, "In a time when we have all been so distant from each other, my reason to partner with this idea was to bring the people of India together virtually, basically to create a virtual 'bharat'. My new idea for India's 'Virtual Bharat' was about bringing India together virtually through short films that showed about our culture. So, this was a natural and perfect combination of all factors. The creative challenge was that it was a first of its kind technology that brought voices together in a unique AI musical experience. Our main aim was to use Indian voices without them feeling like technology and instead feeling human and also to retain the raw emotion. Above all, maintaining our deep and genuine reverence for the greatest anthem in the world was a bigger reason to work on this project."

"Ideas like these need one-of-a-kind vision and a real Indian spirit. My genuine thanks to Sanjay Gupta, Country Head, Google India, who called me at midnight in July with the vision of India singing together on Independence Day and I knew this was the perfect collaboration. In 2000,

we created 'Jana Gana Mana' with 50 Indian Maestros. For me, this was a new expression for the anthem with an engagement enabled by cutting edge AI technology. It was a perfect fit," added the filmmaker.

"What 'Google' did for India's new vision is unprecedented.

To lift every aspect of Indian society through digital transformation is a genuine vision. So, it gave me great confidence and comfort that they were the right

partner with a genuine vision for the country. We are extremely happy about the final film and hope it resonates with every Indian in India and in all parts of the world," concluded Bharatbala.

Bharatbapla's visionary national anthem can be found at social media platforms like 'Youtube', 'Instagram', 'Facebook' and 'Twitter'.