Anthems of Citizenship (shaina)

Anthems of Citizenship

Director: shaina

Duration: 00:13:27; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 50.988; Saturation: 0.050; Lightness: 0.371; Volume: 0.473; Cuts per Minute: 14.487; Words per Minute: 113.293

The unofficial anthems of citizenship which are almost the musical equivalents of Nehru's famous Tryst with destiny speech, these two clips highlight the important role of cinema in the construction of national consciousness and the identity of the citizen in postcolonial India.

Chodo Kal ki Baatein:

The all time favorite from Chitrahaar, this song is almost like a musical rendition of Nehru's Discovery of India. Sunil Dutt, another of heroes from Nehru's era who went on to become a popular Member of parliament from the Congress party, plays the lead in this film which typifies the move from the old feudal mode into the modern juridical order of citizenship.

Surendra Nath and Satyendra Nath are two brothers who live in an old palatial home with their dad, mom, and sister. The Nath family is undergoing hard times as their property is under dispute, and a unfavorable decision by the courts, causes the family to lose face in the community. To make matters worse, Satyendra is arrested by the police for theft of Rs.10,000/- from his workplace. Satyendra thinks his brother stole the money, and is covering up for him, while the rest of the family is shocked and dismayed at this turn of events. All eyes and ears are now on the decision of the Court, which will decide who is guilty in the eyes of the law.
Discovery of India
India
Nehru
Nehruvian modernity
dams
development
developmentalist state
journey

Chorus
Chhodo kal ki baatein - Leave the matters of yesterday
Kal ki baat puraani - they are old
Naye daur mein likhenge, - In this new era, will write
Milkar nayi kahaani - a new saga together.
Hum Hindustani (2) - We are Indians (2)

Chhodo kal ki baatein - Leave the matters of yesterday
Kal ki baat puraani - they are old
Naye daur mein likhenge, - In this new era, will write
Milkar nayi kahaani. - a new saga together.
Hum Hindustani (4) - We are Indians (4)

Aaj purani zanjeeron ko tod chuke hai, - Today we have broken our shackles of the past,
Kya dekhe us manzil ko jo chhod chuke hai. - what to see of the destination, that we have left.

This song which was played over and over again in Chitrahaar is arguably the popular national anthem of modern India in its exhortation to abandon tradition and embrace modernity. The trope of the journey is a very important form in the framing of a national consciousness, since nationalism requires us to pay allegiance to an abstract space. Both Gandhi and Nehru undertook journeys when they returned from their respective stays abroad to discover India. In the song Hum Hindustani, we are taken through a virtual tour of India, a tour that incorporates vast chunks of the history of the subcontinent spliced with images of the new developmentalist state and the progress it had made. The song actually begins at a Congress type meeting with images of Nehru addressing a meeting.

Chaand ke dar pe ja pahocha hai aaj zamana, - On the door step of moon, has the world reached,
Naye jagat se hum bhi nata jod chuke hai. - With the new world, we have made our relations.

Naya khoon hai, Nayee umange, - New blood, New enthusiasm,
Ab hain nayee jawaani. - Now, it is a new youth.
Hum Hindustani (4) - We are Indians (4)

Chorus repeat.

Nehru also exhorted the citizens of India to visit the temples of modern India such as the Bhakra Nangal dam which resulted in generations of school going children having to spend their school picnics at various sites of dams. In the absence of actual journeys such as the picnics, you could undertake virtual journeys via the films made by Films Division or popular films such as Hum Hindustani and Son of India. The song is very similar to another song, Nunna Munna rahi hoon, desh ka sipahi hoon from Son of India which also deploys the idea of the journey across India.

While Gandhi was hailed as the father of the nation, it was Nehruvian modernity that marked the experience of postcolonial India.

Nehruvian modernity was marked by an accelerated transition to modernity through the building of the rational institutions of state order, which would functionally re-organise national space for the purposes of accumulation and industrialization, and an investment in the idea of 'development' as the engine of state policy. In contrast to Gandhi's search for the real India in its villages, the privileged site of Nehruvian nationalism was the dam. The new turn consisted in affirming the need for an accelerated transition to modernity through the building of the rational institutions of state order, which would functionally reorganise national space for the purposes of accumulation and industrialisation.

Humko kitne Taj Mahal hai aur banane, - We have to build many more Taj Mahals,
Kitne hi Ajanta humko aur sajane. - Many more Ajantas, we need do decorate.
Abhi palatna hai rukh kitne dariyaon ka, - We have to change the course of many more rivers,
Kitne parbat raahon se hai aaj hatane. - Many more mountains, we need to move from our paths.

Naya khoon hai, Nayee umange, - New blood, New enthusiasm,
Ab hain nayee jawaani. - Now it is a new youth.
Hum Hindustani (4) - We are Indians (4)

Chorus
Chhodo kal ki baatein - Leave the matters of yesterday
Kal ki baat puraani - they are old
Naye daur mein likhenge, - In this new era, will write
Milkar nayi kahaani. - a new saga together.
Hum Hindustani (2) - We are Indians (2)

If one were to compare this song with the famous tryst with destiny speech made by Nehru, the similarities are startling.

Extracts from Nehru's speech:

Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long supressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.

And so we have to labour and to work, and work hard, to give reality to our dreams. Those dreams are for India, but they are also for the world, for all the nations and peoples are too closely knit together today for any one of them to imagine that it can live apart Peace has been said to be indivisible; so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster in this One World that can no longer be split into isolated fragments.

The appointed day has come-the day appointed by destiny-and India stands forth again, after long slumber and struggle, awake, vital, free and independent. The past clings on to us still in some measure and we have to do much before we redeem the pledges we have so often taken. Yet the turning-point is past, and history begins anew for us, the history which we shall live and act and others will write about.

The future beckons to us. Whither do we go and what shall be our endeavour? To bring freedom and opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and workers of India; to fight and end poverty and ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman.

We have hard work ahead. There is no resting for any one of us till we redeem our pledge in full, till we make all the people of India what destiny intended them to be. We are citizens of a great country on the verge of bold advance, and we have to live up to that high standard. All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action.

And now if you were to compare the lyrics of the songs:
"leave aside matters of yesterday, because they are old, this is a new age, a new world, lets write a new saga together, we are Indians"
"Today we have broken our shackles of the past and left the aims of the past and made our pact with the new world"
"We have new energies, new desires and a new youth, we are Indians"
"We have to change the course of many more rivers, and remove many mountains from our paths"

Aaon mehnat ko apna imaan banaye, - Come lets make our work, our conscience,
Apne haathon ko apna bhagwan banaye. - Our hands, our God.
Ram ki is dharti ko, Gautam ki bhoomi ko, - This land of Ram, this place of Gautam,
Sapnon se bhi pyaara, Hindustan banaye. - Lovelier than our dreams, make an India.
Naya khoon hai, Nayee umange, - New blood, New enthusiasm,
Ab hai nayee jawaani. - Now it is a new youth.
Hum Hindustani (4) - We are Indians (4)

Chorus repeat.

Har zarra hai moti, aankh utha kar dekho, - Every speck of dust is a pearl, raise your eyes to see,
Maati mein sona hai, haath badha kar dekho. - The soil has gold in it, extend your hand to see.

Sone ki ye Ganga hai, chandi ki Yamuna, - Gold is Ganges, silver is Yamuna,
Chahoon to patthar se dhaan uga kar dekho. - Try and cultivate paddy from the stones.
Naya khoon hai, Nayee umange, - New blood, New enthusiasm,
Ab hai nayee jawaani. - Now it is a new youth.
Hum Hindustani (6) - We are Indians (6)

Chorus
Chhodo kal ki baatein - Leave the matters of yesterday
Kal ki baat puraani - they are old
Naye daur mein likhenge, - In this new era, will write
Milkar nayi kahaani. - a new saga together.
Hum Hindustani (4) - We are Indians (4)

However this new version of the song does not include the second verse of the original song which is as follows-

Humko kitne Taj Mahal hai aur banane, - We have to build many more Taj Mahals,
Kitne hi Ajanta humko aur sajane. - Many more Ajantas, we need do decorate.
Abhi palatna hai rukh kitne dariyaon ka, - We have to change the course of many more rivers,
Kitne parbat raahon se hai aaj hatane. - Many more mountains, we need to move from our paths.
Naya khoon hai, Nayee umange, - New blood, New enthusiasm,
Ab hain nayee jawaani. - Now it is a new youth.
Hum Hindustani (4) - We are Indians (4)
Chodo Kal ki Baatein- New Version:

The 'remixed' version of Hum Hindustani brought out by T series remains rather faithful to the form of the original with Sunil Dutt. Against it is a journey, albeit an updated one, through Indian nationalism. I would like to think of this version as an updated version of Nehruvian modernity, one in which the aspirations of propelling India forward are taken up by Nehru's grandson Rajiv Gandhi.

In a provocative argument about the nature of the developmentalist state and its relation to communication in India, Ravi Sundaram argues that the developmentalist state was marked by a grid of governance in which the state saw society as a tabula rasa on which its aspirations could be written. Sundaram argues that the Nehruvian emphasis on development was taken up by Rajiv Gandhi decades later and transformed into a problem of communication and governance.

Sundaram writes " The end-result of all these moves was a decisive reconstruction of the old nationalist imaginary in ways that would dissolve it to the point of no recognition. `Development' remained an issue but was reconstituted as a problem of 'communication'. The way forward was computerization, networking and a new visual regime based on a national television network. The computer soon became the iconic space around which almost all representation, both state and commercial cohered - the effect on nationalist discourse was incredible. As opposed to the Nehruvian focus on 19th century *physical* instruments of accumulation (steel, energy, coal), state discourse after 1984 posed a *virtual *space where issues of development would be resolved. Through public lectures, television programmes and press campaigns, state managers simulated this new space, which though *unseen* was seen as transcending the lack inherent in Nehruvian controls. [9]This new image of the computer was akin to pure reification - as the old critical theorists like Lukacs had described in *History and Class Consciousness*. Except this largely unseen object [10]was also a simulation machine, generating a new form of abstract space (the network) which would accelerate the transition to modernity and the `West'. In the event, the old panoptics of Nehruvianism could not but undergo a subtle revision. The `national' was re-affirmed but through a new discourse which complicated the notion of borders and sovereignty that were so central to the old visual regime. `Development' was redefined, *pace* Virilio, as a problem of speed and information. The more accurate information you had, the better your chances in joining the West"

This updated version of the song Hum Hindustani speaks to a rearticulation of an older nationalist aspiration, fuelled by new technologies and innovations.
Discovery of India
Nehru
Nehruvian modernity
dams
development
developmentalist state
journey

Aaj purani zanjeeron ko tod chuke hai, - Today we have broken our shackles of the past,
Kya dekhe us manzil ko jo chhod chuke hai. - what to see of the destination, that we have left.
Chaand ke dar pe ja pahocha hai aaj zamana, - On the door step of moon, has the world reached,
Naye jagat se hum bhi nata jod chuke hai. - With the new world, we have made our relations.
Naya khoon hai, Nayee umange, - New blood, New enthusiasm,
Ab hain nayee jawaani. - Now, it is a new youth.
Hum Hindustani - We are Indians

Chorus repeats

Aaon mehnat ko apna imaan banaye, - Come lets make our work, our conscious,
Apne haathon ko apna bhagwan banaye. - Our hands, our God.
Ram ki is dharti ko, Gautam ki bhoomi ko, - This land of Ram, this place of Gautam,
Sapnon se bhi pyaara, Hindustan banaye. - Lovelier than our dreams, make an India.
Naya khoon hai, Nayee umange, - New blood, New enthusiasm,
Ab hai nayee jawaani. - Now it is a new youth.
Hum Hindustani - We are Indians

Chhodo kal ki baatein - Leave the matters of yesterday
Kal ki baat puraani - they are old
Naye daur mein likhenge, - In this new era, will write
Milkar nayi kahaani. - a new saga together.
Hum Hindustani (2) - We are Indians (2)

Har zarra hai moti,aankh utha kar dekho, - Every speck of dust is a pearl, raise your eyes to see,
Maati mein sona hai, haath badha kar dekho. - The soil has gold in it, extend your hand to see.
Sone ki ye Ganga hai, chandi ki Yamuna, - Gold is Ganges, silver is Yamuna,
Chahoon to patthar se dhaan uga kar dekho. - Try and cultivate paddy from the stones.
Naya khoon hai, Nayee umange, - New blood, New enthusiasm,
Ab hai nayee jawaani. - Now it is a new youth.
Hum Hindustani - We are Indians

Chorus
Chhodo kal ki baatein - Leave the matters of yesterday
Kal ki baat puraani - they are old
Naye daur mein likhenge, - In this new era, will write
Milkar nayi kahaani. - a new saga together.
Hum Hindustani (4) - We are Indians (4)

Chorus
Nanha munna Raahi hoon, - I am a small traveller
Desh ka sipaahi hoon - I am a soldier of the country
Bolo mere sang, - Say it with me
Jai Hind (5) - Jai Hind (5)

Chorus repeats

Raste pe chalunga na dar-dar ke - I will not walk on the road with fear
Chaahe mujhe jeena pade mar-mar ke - Even if I will have live, dying
Manzil se pehle na Lunga kahin dum - Wont rest before the destination
Aage hi aage badhaunga kadam - Will keep marching forward
Daahine Baaein Daahine Baaein, Tham. - Left-Right, Left-Right, Attention

Chorus repeats
Desh ka Sipahi from Son of India:

Most Indians ( at least those born before the eighties) would have grown up humming this song as it made its weekly appearance in Chitrahaar. The ultimate song of citizenship, Desh ka Sipahee alludes to the ideal citizen, the citizen soldier. The song takes the form of a journey (though all modes of transport) across India. The song has many resonances to popular visual images of children / babies which have been analysed by Patricia Uberoi. Images of the baby solider, baby farmer and the baby engineer in particular have been very popular in calendar art.

The film song is also interspersed with images from the republic day parade which is broadcast every year on national television, and which for the longest time was the only source of 'time pass' on republic day. The song has many images of modern India including factories, mills and lines like "Desh ko banoonga machine o ka nagar", and should probably be seen alongside the song Chodo Kal Ki Baatein form Hum Hindustani. There are even similar line sin the two songs such as "Naya hai zamana, mere nayi hai dagar"

The trope of the journey as one in which the abstract space of the nation is discovered and personalized is one that we have inherited form Gandhi and Nehru, who both undertook journeys on their return to India to discover the real India. While for Gandhi, the real India lived in its villages, Nehru saw rural India as being plagued by tradition, superstition and the need of the hour was to transform India en masse through modern technology so that it could find its place within the house for science and reason. (In the song for instance you have a line which says Bharaat kisi se nahi rahenga kum, aage hi aage badhaunga kadam".

The virtual otur tour of India thus highlights the key achievements of the republic through a visit

It is also worth recalling Nehru famous Tryst with destinty speech at this time to see the comparisons:

If one were to compare this song with the famous tryst with destiny speech made by Nehru, the similarities are startling.

Extracts from Nehru's speech:

Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long supressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.

And so we have to labour and to work, and work hard, to give reality to our dreams. Those dreams are for India, but they are also for the world, for all the nations and peoples are too closely knit together today for any one of them to imagine that it can live apart Peace has been said to be indivisible; so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster in this One World that can no longer be split into isolated fragments.

The appointed day has come-the day appointed by destiny-and India stands forth again, after long slumber and struggle, awake, vital, free and independent. The past clings on to us still in some measure and we have to do much before we redeem the pledges we have so often taken. Yet the turning-point is past, and history begins anew for us, the history which we shall live and act and others will write about.

The future beckons to us. Whither do we go and what shall be our endeavour? To bring freedom and opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and workers of India; to fight and end poverty and ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman.

We have hard work ahead. There is no resting for any one of us till we redeem our pledge in full, till we make all the people of India what destiny intended them to be. We are citizens of a great country on the verge of bold advance, and we have to live up to that high standard. All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action.

Dhup mein paseena bahaunga jahan - Under the sun, wherever I will toil
Hare bhare khet laheraenge wahan - Green farm fields will sway
Dharati pe faake na paenge janam - On earth, starvation wont take birth
Aage hi aage, badhaunga kadam - Will keep marching forward
Daahine Baaein Daahine Baaein, Tham - Left-Right Left-Right, Attention

Chorus repeats

Nayaa hai zamana meri nayee hai dagar - It is a new world, it is my new path
Desh ko banaunga machineon ka nagar - Will make the country, a city of machines
Bharat kisi se na rahega kum - India wont be behind anyone
Aage hi aage badhaunga kadam - Will keep marching forward.
Daahine Baaein Daahine Baaein, Tham - Left-Right Left-Right, Attention

Chorus repeats

Bada ho ke desh ka sitaara banaunga - When I grow up, I will be the star of the country
Duniyaa ki aankhon ka tara banunga - I will be the darling of the world
Rakhunga uncha tiranga hardam - Will always keep the tricolor high
Aage hi aage badhaunga kadam - Will keep marching forward
Daahune Baaein Daahine Baaein, Tham - Left-Right Left-Right, Attention

Chorus repeats.

Shaanti ki nagari hai mera yeh watan - This, my country is a peaceful city
Sabako sikhaunga pyaar ka chalan - Will teach everyone the custom of love
Duniya mein girne na dunga kahin bum - Will not let a bomb get dropped, anywhere in the world
Aage hi aage badhaunga kadam - Will keep marching forward
Daahine Baaein Daahine Baaein, Tham - Left-Right Left-Right, Attention

Chorus repeats.

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