When was the last time a SONG stirred us to realize the reality of our current state?

When I was writing this song, I wanted to capture the emotions of a situation in the film where the citizens of India are asked to wake up; To wake up and realize that we are not being fair to the country by letting anti-national powers flourish for their personal gains, that we are surrendering the very freedom that we fought for, that we are dividing the country when we should actually stand up united for it’s progress.

Now, if we had used lines like “Jaag jao… Bhaarat ko bachaao’ or ‘Humari jaan Hindustaan’, maximum reaction would have been a yawn or a raise of an eyebrow.

Or both, if somebody really liked it and were generous.

It would NOT have made people sit up and think about the current state.

Diverting from the song for a moment, the Election Commission started many campaigns this year to urge Indians to come out and vote yet the turnout was only around 50%

It’s not like we don’t care.

It’s just that we don’t care enough to make an effort to even elect the best men to decide the future and fate of our country.

We are comfortably numb and almost sleepy to what is happening to us.

And how do we wake up a person who is asleep?

Do we sing lullaby to him?

Or do we shrug him and shake him out of sleep?

As the script demanded it, with this song the characters want to shrug and shake people out of their slumber; make them realize that India is wounded. It needs us, the citizens to come forward and help it.

By now, we were clear that we wanted the song to be intense and hard-hitting; an eye-opener!! Any ‘Jaag jao… Bhaarat ko bachaao’ wouldn’t have served the purpose.

Since the film RANN is not about a battle fought on the borders of India but it is about the battle that all of us fight within ourselves, the words were meant to express “There is a battle in the minds of all people” and literally they translated into ‘Jana Gann Mana Rann hai’. This was the birth of this song.

Yes, there is a reference to the respected National Anthem of our country but this song is NOT our National Anthem nor is it demeaning or insulting it in any way. While the National Anthem speaks about India and Victory, this song talks about the ‘need’ to achieve that victory by keeping India united today. Infact it reaffirms all the goodness that the National Anthem stands for. But at the end of the day, it is just a song by itself pertaining to the script and the scenes of the film.

How can you call it National Anthem when there are 100 different words used in it? (Yes I counted, 100 words!!)

Kindly go through the lyrics once and decide for yourself if there is any insult to India…

Kindly understand the intent before blindly judging the content…

Kindly ask yourself if you don’t really want India to be free from all corruption, bloodshed and destruction…

Kindly be honest…

And yes, you can count the 100 different words here too (They are the ones not bold)

Jana Gann Mana Rann hai

…is Rann mein

Zakhmi Bhaarat ka Bhaagya Vidhaata

Punjab Sindh Gujrat Maratha

Ek doosre se ladd ke mar rahein hai

Is desh ne humko ek kiya

Aur hum desh ke tukde kar rahein

Dravid Utkal Banga

Khoon bahaa ker, ek rang ka

…kar diya humne tiranga

Sarhadon pe jung aur

…Galiyon mein fasaad danga

Vindh Himachal Yamuna Ganga

Mein tezaab ubal raha hai

Mein tezaab ubal raha hai

Mar gaya sab ka zameer

Jaane kab zinda ho aagey

Phir bhi Tava shubh naame jaage

Tava shubh aashish maange

Aag mein jal kar cheekh raha hai

Phir bhi koi nahi bachaata

Gaahe tava jaya gaatha

Desh ka aisa haal hai lekin

Aapas mein ladd rahein Neta

Jana Gann Mangal daayak jaya hai

Bhaarat ko bacha le Vidhaata!!!

Jaya hai – Ya yeh – Marann hai

Jana – Gann – Mana – Rann hai

This song reinforces and urges citizens to respect India, its greatness and it’s National Anthem.

If anyone thinks that it is a crime to ask Indians to stand up and help India be the glorious Country that it was, then I have only one thing to say…

“BHAARAT   KO   BACHAA   LE   VIDHAATA”

- Sarim Momin (Lyricist of Jana Gana Mana RANN)