Bharat Bala’s new initiative ‘Jana Gana Mana – The Virtual National Anthem’ which is being released on the eve of Independence Day with the Support Of Google’s Cutting Edge AI -together as One Nation, One Emotion
Bharatbala’s Profile
A person who breathes life into his visuals through real people and places, filmmaker
Bharatbala tells Indian stories with a universal sensibility in the most exotic locations
across the subcontinent. He is renowned for his grand visions for India, his most popular
being Vande Mataram Ma Tujhe Salaam, inspired by father, an idea vision that took
audiences by storm and 23 years later is still sung across stadiums and clubs when the
youth want to feel a big India emotion. His other celebrated projects include
the Incredible India adfilms which branded India and put the country the global map,
Jana Gana Mana featuring 50 of India’s classical maestros and Gurus of Peace, a
documentary on the Nobel Peace awardees in which Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama
and major world leaders are seen saying Vande Mataram. His first feature film, Hari
Om, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2004 and travelled to over 35
international festivals. He then went on to make his critically acclaimed second
film, Maryan, starring actors Dhanush and Parvathy.
Bharatbala’s current big idea for India, Virtual Bharat, is a 1000 film journey on the
untold human stories of India. The project premiered in August 2019 and has, in a few
months, generated great appreciation across the nation. There are over 13 films
released on Virtual Bharat’s YouTube Channel. They have been tweeted about by
everyone from Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani, Nitin Gadkari, Shashi Tharoor, William
Dalrymple, the Indian Ambassador to the United Nations to AR Rahman, Shreya Ghoshal
and Aditi Rao Hydari.
‘The Virtual Jana Gana Mana’ – Bharatbala reimagines
the world’s greatest anthem bringing India together
this Independence Day
~An initiative by Prasar Bharati, powered by Google, created by Bharatbala and
Virtual Bharat –
“How do we take Indian voices powered by artificial intelligence technology and bring emotion
to it? How does India sing without the sound feeling technological? What is the perfect
expression that brings Indian people, their emotional connection to India and technology
together? How do we connect Indians to create a Virtual Bharat?
August 17th 2020: ‘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
of Indians – from the mountains of Arunachal Pradesh to the expanses of the Thar desert,
launched on India’s 73rd 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 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 – 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 feeling human.
How to retain the 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 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”
What Google 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. We are
extremely elated on the final film and hope it resonates with every Indian in India and in all
parts of the world!”
Bharatbapla’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
