Culture Min tableau to offer ode to 'Bharat Mata', show 'Gen Z' singing 'Vande Mataram'

New Delhi, Jan 21 (PTI) The Republic Day parade tableau of the culture ministry this year will celebrate 150 years of 'Vande Mataram', symbolically showcasing its composition by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, colonial-era recording by a famous Marathi singer and its rendition by a group of 'Gen Z', officials said on Wednesday.

Sources said the tableau, themed on 'Swatantrata Ka Mantra - Vande Mataram', will roll down the Kartavya Path to the accompaniment of the rare 1928 recording of the song by Vishnupant Pagnis.

This recording by Pagnis, the celebrated actor and musician of Marathi cinema and theatre, "stands as perhaps the boldest rendition of Vande Mataram," according to the official portal that was launched last year, marking the sesquicentenary of 'Vande Mataram'.

"When only the first two stanzas of the song were permitted for public performance, Pagnis defiantly reversed the order -- singing the last two stanzas first, followed by the first two. Composed in Raga Sarang, this version was labelled 'Rashtrageet,' marking a courageous artistic response to controversy surrounding India's national song," it says.

Recordings of 'Vande Mataram' from the original 1905 version to the 1935-era rendition are also available on this commemorative website.

The sesquicentenary of 'Vande Mataram' will be the dominant theme of the 77th Republic Day Parade, with enclosure backdrops along the Kartavya Path displaying old paintings illustrating the opening stanzas of the National Song and floral artworks at the main stage paying homage to Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, who composed it in 1875.

Thirty tableaux -- 17 from various states and Union territories, and 13 from ministries and services -- will roll down the Kartavya Path, the defence ministry earlier said.

The culture ministry's tableau will be themed on 'Vande Mataram: The Soul-Cry of a Nation', and its foreground section will depict the manuscript of 'Vande Mataram' being composed, while a panel on its lower side will depict an image of Chatterjee.

The middle section will carry a group of artists in traditional costumes, depicting folk diversity of India, while some will be seen in modern dresses, representing the 'Gen Z', a senior official said.

Behind them, a series of art installations will showcase Pagnis recording the song, freedom fighters facing gallows, and an imposing image of 'Bharat Mata' (Mother India) holding the national tricolour, the official said.

A long lower side panel will depict images of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, freedom fighter and philosopher Sri Aurobindo (Aurobindo Ghosh), who had done a translation in prose of the poem in the early 20th century, and the famed triumvirate of anti-colonial nationalists -- 'Lal Bal Pal' (Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Bipin Chandra Pal).

'Vande Mataram', a rallying cry during the freedom movement was adopted as India's National Song by the Constituent Assembly in 1950.

India turned a Republic on January 26, 1950 when the Constitution, adopted on November 26, 1949, came into effect.

"This tableau will be an ode to 'Mother India', the enduring spirt of 'Vande Mataram', and its journey of 150 years. And, for us, the song means in totality with all its stanzas, and not just a few lines," another senior official said.

The idea also is to make the 'Gen Z' connect with the 150-year-old legacy of 'Vande Mataram' in the barely 45-second time that a tableau gets in front of the saluting dais during the parade, the official said.

'Vande Mataram' was initially composed independently and later included in Chatterjee's novel 'Anandamath'. It was first sung by Rabindranath Tagore at the 1896 Congress Session in Calcutta (now Kolkata). The chant of 'Vande Mataram' as a political slogan was first used on August 7, 1905, according to a note '150 Years of Vande Mataram: A Melody That Became a Movement', shared by the government on November 6 last year.

'Vande Mataram' was first published in the literary journal 'Bangadarshan' on November 7, 1875. Later, Chatterjee incorporated the hymn in his immortal novel 'Anandamath', which was published in 1882. It was set to music by Tagore, it said.

It has become an integral part of the nation's civilisational, political and cultural consciousness. Commemorating this milestone presents an occasion to reaffirm the timeless message of unity, sacrifice, and devotion that 'Vande Mataram' embodies for all Indians, the note said.

Enclosure backdrops on the Kartavya Path in Delhi will bear prints of artist Tejendra Kumar Mitra's paintings that illustrate the opening lines of 'Vande Mataram'.

According to the culture ministry, these paintings were published in 1923.

Videos on 'Vande Mataram' will be played on the screen at Kartavya Path.

As in previous years, various competitions, contests, and quizzes were conducted on the 'MyGov' and 'MyBharat' portals on the theme of 'Vande Mataram' and 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat', which received a total participation of 1,61,224, the defence ministry said in a statement on January 16. PTI KND MNK MNK