National anthem

Can you respect your nation if you cannot respect your national anthem? A 2003 public service ad film created by Manish Bhatt, Raghu Bhat, Gajraj Rao ..

The film rises to a climax as the handicapped cobbler stands up with the help of his crutch in respect of the national anthem. The old cobbler changes the radio station and the melodious voice of Mudgal fills up the street as she sings the national anthem. It takes place in the chaos of a Bombay street. It wasn’t the era of YouTube and short-from videos. After brainstorming we realised that the film was an orphan and it needed someone to hold its fingers,” said Rao. It was then that the creators realised that they needed a voice over from Amitabh Bachchan. We (Manish Bhatt and Raghu Bhat) went to see the movie ‘Catch Me If You Can’, and we saw most of the people in the theatre did not stand up during the national anthem. The creators were again left in a pickle when they realised that no one was ready to run a two minute film. “There was a Maharashtra Government directive, at that point of time, that people should stand up in a theatre for the national anthem. Both of them had just parted ways from Sarkar’s production house and were in search of good scripts when they were approached by the two creative directors with the idea for the film. However, the supreme judicial authority of India did not delve in the matter of standing up for the national anthem and it has been a constant source of debate. It was the weekend of April 2003, Bhatt and Bhat had gone to a cinema hall to enjoy Spielberg’s ‘Catch me if you can’.