GOWRI MANICKAVASAGAM
‘The Virtual National Anthem’ hit Google Search, the Youtube masthead, and Doordarshan on Independence Day. It was a larger than life coming together of voices of Indians – from the mountains of Arunachal Pradesh to the expanses of the Thar desert, launched on India’s 74th Independence Day.
2020 has socially distanced India, a year when Indians have been cut off from each other. This film brings up strong emotions as we see Indians from all corners of the country sing the anthem together. The voices collected by Google AI were placed into a larger than life first of its kind cinematic reimagination 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 that 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 – to bring the people of India together virtually–basically to create a Virtual Bharat – was my reason to partner with this idea.
My new idea for India – Virtual Bharat is about bringing India together virtually – bringing Indians together around short films about our culture – all in one place digitally. So this was a natural and perfect combination of all factors and the creative challenge was that there is a first of its kind technology that brings voices together in a unique AI musical experience. How do we use Indian voices without them feeling like technology and instead of feeling human? How to retain raw emotion? Above all how to maintain our deep and genuine reverence for the greatest anthem in the world.
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 a 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”
What Google is doing as part of its Google for India 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!”
Bharatbala’s vision can be found at
Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk6qkhdKuV94gG8Qr6j3Ikg
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/virtualbharat/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/virtualbharat
Twitter – https://twitter.com/virtual_bharat
