Chennai duo’s clean verses add to Ganga beautification

Raamkumar said the idea for an anthem emerged while watching Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Madison Square Garden speech in 2014. “My brother and I were struck by his speech on cleaning the Ganga. We decided to create an anthem around river Ganga, not only because of the spiritual connection but also due to the fact 40% of India’s population relies on the river for their livelihood. We wanted to make the Clean Ganga project a people’s movement,” said this Chennai-based Carnatic musician. The duo composed the piece with a few musician friends.  

“The first part, in Sanskrit, is Adi Shankaracharya’s Gangashtakam. Most youngsters have this typical image of Ganga, as a much-polluted river. We wanted to show the river’s beautiful side. The second part is on Ganga’s important role in India’s livelihood, biodiversity and tourism. The third part is an oath to treat Ganga with the respect she deserves,” he explained, adding that a video was shot and sent to the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG). 

Within a week, their proposal was accepted and the duo was invited to New Delhi. “The National Film Development Corporation came on board as producers. It took almost six months to finish shooting and the post production was done in some of the best studios in Chennai, including AR Rahman’s studio,” he said of the six-minute video. 

According to Raamkumar, “Musicians from Chennai composing an anthem for cleaning Ganges is the biggest statement of national integration.” The team also included Prashanth Techno. Dinesh Krishnan D, Premal Raval, Abhinav Sunder Nayak, Navneeth Balachanderan and Deepika Chandrasekaran The Namami Gange Project and Anthem was officially launched in Haridwar on July 7. Raamkumar, who was present at the event, said, “Many people told us that after ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’, this anthem had the spirit to bring people together a cause. This is clearly the biggest moment of our lives. 

The video uploaded on YouTube garnered close to 15,000 views within a day.” While shooting the video, the brothers travelled the length and breadth of Ganga. “No matter where we went, we saw that the respect for Ganges transcended religious barriers. Be it Hindu, Muslim, Christian or Parsi, everyone referred to the river as Ganga. This shows the country’s emotional connect with the river,” he said.