Niladri Kumar, Bickram Ghosh and Sonu Niigaam in a scene from the music video

What started as a preview featuring three local talents has spiralled into a magnum opus featuring 22 artistes from across the country as Bickram Ghosh launched his version of the national song Vande Mataram on Republic Day in Delhi.

“After I uploaded a preview of the track on August 15 last year, the melody had such good response that I felt the need to make it larger. Veecon came on board as producer and conceptualiser and we started working on it from last October,” said Ghosh, who camped around studios in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Calcutta to record with musical biggies like Shankar Mahadevan, Sonu Niigaam, Sunidhi Chauhan, Amaan Ali Khan, Rashid Khan, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Shubha Mudgal, Indian Ocean, Euphoria and others.

“This project is no longer a song of uprising. My Vande Mataram is introspective, philosophical and lyrical. I have created a melody straight from my heart and some of the finest artistes of India have executed it, making it the biggest project in my musical career,” said Bickram.

The percussionist’s Vande Mataram packs in the original song, accentuated by alaap, western rock and a collective jam with all artistes.

The nine-minute song blooms into a six-minute video beautifully shot by filmmaker Girish Malik, capturing the raw and earthy sights and sounds of Indian villages, greens, cliffs and valleys with the Vande Mataram chant in the air.

The audio CD is available at music stores while the music video doing the rounds on YouTube has already garnered more than a lakh views. One can also watch the video on music channels this week and frequent fliers can listen to the song streaming at national airports.

Firstly, it’s the connection with Bickrambhai that drove me to this project. Secondly, the song is beyond ‘patriotism’ to me. It’s an ode to The Mother and glorifies Mother or Maa in all forms — my mother, my country, mother earth, mother nature; we still live inside a mother but little do we realise it! We owe our existence to The Mother eternally and the song is a tribute to that divine truth.
— Sonu Niigaam

It was a huge honour to sing the greatest song ever written for our motherland and a wish come true, collaborating with Bickram and sharing a song with Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, Shankar, Sonu, Sunidhi, Amaan, Roopji (Kumar Rathod) and so many more. For me, this one is beyond dreams. It’s like a reward for my contribution to Indian music.
— Palash Sen of Euphoria

Mohua Das