Official anthem, radio jingle for IFFI 50 launched

The Information and Broadcasting ministry on Wednesday launched the official anthem and radio jingle for the golden jubilee edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI), scheduled to take place in Goa from November 20 to 28.

The anthem, inspired by the nine 'rasas' (emotions) of the Natya Shashtra and an amalgamation of scenes from prominent movies and dance 'mudras', has been developed by noted dancer Geeta Chandran and Grammy Award-winning composer Ricky Cage.

The audio-visuals of the anthem have been directed and produced by National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC) under the guidance of I&B Ministry and the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF).

"Even though cinema is a modern-day creation, the tradition of drama, song and dance is very old in our country. I thank Geeta Chandran that she kept this tradition of Natya Shastra in mind while creating this anthem," Amit Khare, Information and Broadcasting Secretary, said.

The anthem includes a blend of clips from over 50 films, including "Awaara", "October", "The Danish Girl", "Taare Zameen Par", "Gandhi", "Life of Pi", "Hindi Medium", "Baahubali", "Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro" and "Village Rockstars", among others.

Chandran, who along with other artistes has performed the Nav Rasas, hoped that the anthem "brings out the spirit India".

"There is always talk about how cinema, music, theatre and dance are separate art forms. But in our culture, that is not the case. This gave me an opportunity to knit cinema with our tradition, which is the dramaturgy tradition. Natya Shastra is all about dramaturgy and not just restricted to dance. It is the coming together of music, dance and visual art...

"Cinema is about 'rasa', dance is about 'rasa' which we have explored through the nine basic emotions. The idea was also to take all the dance forms and be very inclusive in this process," she said.

Cage said the music for the anthem was his attempt to present the soul of India.

"All the film clips that have been selected within this particular anthem, all of them have made positive social impact. All of them had a very positive message for the society," he said, adding that cinema has the power to educate people about important issues and take them from "awareness to action".

The event was also attended by filmmaker Rahul Rawail, Director General of Press Information Bureau KS Dhatwalia, NFDC Managing Director TCA Kalyani, I&B Additional Secretary Atul Kumar Tiwari and Chaitanya Prasad, Additional Director General, Directorate of Film Festivals.