I spent yesterday chilling in front of the TV catching the new Phir Mile Sur remix of the vibrant 80’s national integration song. And I am pretty stunned at how bad it is. The original song was such a beautiful melody where people sang in different languages and different styles, and yet the melody weaved itself into one song.
The new one is unbelievably harsh on the ears, and the music change when the scene moves from one state to another is quite jarring. It made me feel I was listening to a series of different songs just strung together on a music mixer. I am hoping that repeated listening might make me warm more to the tune :(.
And what is with the Bollywood overdose? Argggh…the whole message of national integration is gone if the song is dominated by Bollywood alone.
The song is not all bad though. There were some lovely highlights:
- Loved Salman’s section where he is signing with the deaf-mute kids
- Loved Anoushka Shankar’s sitar playing, Zakir Hussain on the tabla, Sivamani on the drums, and AR Rahman on the continuum fingerboard. In fact, all the musicians in this video are excellent.
- Nice to see Juhi Chawla with her sweet smile
- I don’t know if I am biased here, but I thought all the South Indian sections were wonderful. They were so normal and down-to-earth; they were in the video representing the people of the region and not showing off like some of the Bollywood stars.
What could have been edited out:
- The entire first family of Bollywood. Amitabh, Abhishek, and Aishwarya were an overdose -especially when they all act so fakey.
- Wincing with pain at Sonu Nigam’s section. He is a good singer but what was he trying to pull off here?
- Aamir Khan’s act with the children was not necessary when Salman has anyway done a more effective one. Especially horrible was Aamir doing the song in the Kya bolti tu / Bum bum bole (I actually could not make out which one it was!) tune!
Anyway, here are 2 clippings of the video for those who have not yet managed to catch it on TV or the net:
What did you love/hate about this new song?
Okay! This was some exceptional review. And yes nothing beats the original, it was all so soothing back then. Yes, I agree I love some parts of the video now, but I will always be attached to the original. Makes me feel all the more proud and that attachments towards our fellow countrymen! 🙂
Nice Blog … Check out another review on Phir Mile Sur
9-point something! A detailed review on why Phir Mile Sur has failed to capture the audience or cannot come close to the original version.
http://manishmadan.blogspot.com/2010/02/phir-mile-sur-jo-nahi-mila.html
I agree with you entirely! I love the original and this, sadly, is too disappointing a remake. India’s more than just Bollywood.
After watching the new one, I run off to watch the original and feel so much better 🙂
Absolutely.. I agree with you…
Phir Mile Sur – Yet another perspective
http://sunilm.net/blog
And leave alone that I am not even judging it against the old one.
I am just judging it by facts !
🙂
Super comment, Srijay. You summarized everything that I was struggling to say through my post 🙂
The best part about bad movies and videos is that they make good reviews! Your post is not only informative but also hilarious. However, i take PMS as a new advertising model. Where the Bollywood celebs advertise in between a few seconds of the PMS video. PMS is awesome!
Prashant, that’s true. What would be poor bloggers do if Bollywood stopped making such bakwas 😀
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Well there is SRK alright ! Bt where are the cricketers.And I myself being from West Bengal do not stand that only Bhutia(howsoever great he is) is not the only footballer in the country. The hockey team is not shown.Our achievements in tennis,swimming,arching is not potrayed. Mumbai 26/11 event and how tactfully the police and commandos handled it was not said even once.Our mission to the moon, where is it ? Don’t they read newspapers atleast ! I am Tremendously disappointed 🙁
Sania,Saina,our recordist who got oscar and those kids in slumdog millionaire should have been shown. Never in history have the country seen a person resign from power when the people are indeed pushing it to her,so may I ask why Sonia Gandhi was not included. The penpower of the youth- Chetan Bhagat- he should be there too according to me.
In all its seems I just saw a Bollywood version of “Mile Sur mera tumhara” …
And the theme “Unity in Diversity” was actually directed towards uniting the film societies.
Hey….I wrote my analysis on this too….here it is: http://sujay1sukumar1.bravejournal.com/entry/55488
The new one is too slow, boring and uninteresting… It is just that masterpieces can never be copied!
Exactly, 16 minutes is too long for a song…
well…it’s sad you didn’t like it….however i liked it a lot…..
especially the Salman Khan Piece…..that was amazing…..though would like to discourage comparison between the new and the old….that won’t be fair….
treat this one as the new or the according to the newer generation of India…the music..the legends….etc….
\,,,/
@Hitesh: Actually, even I liked the Salman Khan piece. Probably the only section in the song that I actually liked unreservedly 🙂
Ture.. though both convey the same message, old is gold 🙂
you hit the nail on the head gal…
completely agree with all your points…
1 it was wayyyyy tooooo looooonnggg…
2 tooo many bollywoodians.. and errr.. unity in diversity is more than jus bollywood… bollywood aint india…
3 no cricketeers no hockey players.. we’re supp to be cricket crazy nation and hockey is supp to be our national game
4 only olympians shown for the sports part..
5 Sonu was goood… but the emphasis on him alone was too much..
6 wondering why they dint use Hema Malini again..shes very much here and still dancing with her daughters..
Good one Nishita.. Hats off..!!
I watched it on my laptop yesterday, really the Bachaans are a little overdose with their too fakey ,smile family portrait, intead other great personalities could have been added there instead of showcasing one family! Yes, Aamir with kids was not necessary ! Though I am not a big fan of Salman, but liked him here , Sharukh was ok.. overall you are right too Bollywoody !
I didn’t seen it yet.. but many were saying that it’s a video for bollywood and not for India.. LOL.. 😆 😆
I know… I didnt like it much too.. I have always felt some inner sense of pride when I watched/listened to the older version.. Lot of deserving eminent achievers were portayed beautifully well. This one, seemed like a Bollywood Mass advertisement!!!! Could have surely been done better.
oh yeah! it was Bollywood overdose. i dnt understand why we needed Ranbir, Shahid and al those fellas. Big B family, well i liked Big B’s voice.. rest all :*(
I can’t understand HOW THEY MISSED SACHIN! oh MY! MAJOR BLUNDER!
there is no MohanLAL! cannot believe that! pheww! and the music is HORRIBLE
Oh, yes! Veens, how could I have forgotten Shahid. Normally, I like him so much. But here, I got confused for a moment whether it was a copy/paste from the Kismat Konnection song or something….so out of place he looked
Totally agree.. it does sound like different sounds have been put in a blender and poured out.. a lot of the things were unnecessary in the video. The song lost its charm. I miss the old Mile Sur Mera Tumhara. It was unique and stirred much more in our souls.
And it’s bloody long !
Totally agree with you. God! I wish I could just edit out the Sonu Nigam part .Every time he screeches I run for ear muffs 🙂 Everybody at home keeps asking me to play the old song on the PC so that they don’t forget that they actually like this song.
They left so many important people. For instance did Karnataka just have to be Kavita Krishnamurthy and her family . They could have used some others too.Same for Sports stars, they should have been highlighted (after all Olympic medals are no matters of fun) , and not left in the last part of the song for the chorus .. It was total Bollywood fiasco with only few endearing moments.