_{Makers of the new (and old) Miley Sur Mera Tumhara, Kailash and Arti Surendranath talk about the magic and the criticism.}

_{Few afternoons back at their Breach Candy pad, film makers Arti and Kailash Surendranath ExCampionite class of 1965 were far from relaxed. The former was recovering from a throat sore from production pangs and the latter was sifting through millions of opinions on their mammoth production Phir Miley Sur, which was released on R-Day. Everyone seems to be feeling strongly about it.} 

 _{Within moments, the duo explains “Every Indian owns this song. Most of the response has been emotional,” Kailash explains, adding, “I can’t say ‘it’s none of your business’ to anyone who objects to the song… because it is their business!” The Surendranaths are heartened by the feedback, after all they’ve rekindled patriotic emotions in a generation which has missed Doordarshan altogether.}

_{The rekindling took over seven months and more nerves to create. Arti (who in 1988 sacrificed her honeymoon to work on the original) was more keen about the idea. “Ever since, I had been conceptualising a new Miley Sur in my head,” she admits. After the couple heard that the TV channel Zoom too was planning a remake, they collaborated. The remake brought together Kailash’s crew which had produced Doordarshan’s famous trilogy — Mile Sur, Freedom torch (remember Sunil Gavaskar?) and Desh Raag (Pt Ravishankar and others).}

_{During the seven-month production, the couple procured permissions from tourism boards, dates from celebs and shot in the erratic monsoons, all to make the final cut under a deadline. Expectedly, the inclusion/exclusion of many has been questioned vehemently. The feedback ranges from meaningful (‘why no Sindhis/Kalam/Tendulkar?’) to the inane (‘who no Rakhi Sawant/Bipasha/Sreesanth?’) “The choice of personalities was a function of logistics. Besides, I wanted a brand new feel to it,” Kailash says. This said, he also wanted to retain Bhimsen Joshi (who’d created the original melody) and Latabai but couldn’t. Arti believes the song will gradually grow on viewers: “Locations such as Rabindranath Tagore’s home and Shanti Stupa must be noticed!” As for ‘too much Bollywood’, they argue that the original version too had its share of actors and that today’s actors are simply more charismatic.}

_{Twenty-two years ago, Rajiv Gandhi, sensing a void of national pride among the peoples, asked Kailash and team to ‘make something which would make Indians proud of being Indians’. Today as we impress the world in all fields,the new Miley Sur will attempt to further that agenda… and perhaps change our Sunday mornings again.}

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