Independence Day 2023: The story of the Indian national anthem and 6 unique renditions

Rabindranath Tagore composed the Bengali original of the national anthem 'Jana Gana Mana' in 1911.

India’s national anthem was originally composed in Bengali, Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata, by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in 1911, and later translated into Hindi and its first paragraph adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India as the national anthem on January 24, 1950. But it was labelled the national anthem eight years before that.

According to available accounts, on September 11, 1942, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose would, for the first time, declare the 55-second song as the ‘national anthem’ during the German-Indian Society meeting at Hamburg. The Azad Hind team also decided to use ‘Jai Hind’ as the national greeting at the same meeting. But Netaji wanted a Hindustani (mix of Hindi and Urdu) version and instructed Col. Abid Hasan Safrani of the Indian National Army and Mumtaz Hussain, the writer at Azad Hind Radio, to prepare a simple Hindustani translation of the anthem. The outcome was Sabh Sukh Chain Ki Barkha, formally known as the Quami Tarana, set to music by Captain Ram Singh Thakur.

Before it found its way into the Constituent Assembly, the national anthem Jana Gana Mana appeared in Bimal Roy’s Bengali film Udayer Pathey (1944), later released in Hindi as Hamrahi (1945), and was sung as the school song of Doon School in 1935, according to some accounts.

To Tagore’s credit, he remains the only person in the world to have composed the national anthem for two countries and inspired a third’s. His composition Amar Sonar Bangla (1905) was adopted by Bangladesh as its national anthem in 1971-72. He also inspired the making of Sri Lankan national anthem Sri Lanka Matha.

Tagore, later in 1919, translated Jana Gana Mana into English as Morning Song of India, at the request of Dr James Cousins, Irish poet and then principal of the Besant Theosophical College at Madanapalle in Andhra Pradesh. It is still sung as a prayer at the college. But who set it tune? The principal’s wife and European music expert Margaret Cousins gave Jana Gana Mana its tune. For several years, the college had preserved the original document on which Jana Gana Mana was written until it was sold to an American art collector for an undisclosed price, following the college’s participation in the Annie Besant-led Home Rule Movement.

Tagore, who wrote Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata a day prior to the coronation of King George V, had to clear the air that the song was not written to praise the British king but instead to pronounce the greatness of India.

In 1962-63, artist Maqbool Fida Husain created a 45-feet mural Bharat Bhagya Vidhata, based on the lines of the national anthem. It is kept at Tata Fundamental Institute of Research, Mumbai.

The complete original song comprises five stanzas, rendered in prescribed metre, and takes 52 seconds to sing it. However, what we grew up singing in school, on Independence Day, Republic Day and national days, and much later in cinema halls, as the national anthem is just one stanza of the original.

As the nation readies to celebrate its 77th Independence Day, here’s a look at six unique renditions of the national anthem, which captures the vast diversity of India and binds the whole country into one. Over the years, the words have been given different treatment by different people, but they never fail to evoke a sense of pride. In this one, the classical greats came together:

And here are six more. First up, by a three-time Grammy winner:

Ricky Kej with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Three-time Grammy-winning musician Ricky Kej released a new version of the Indian national anthem this year. The 60-second piece was conducted and recorded at the iconic Abbey Road Studios in London with a 100-member of Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the UK. This is the largest symphony orchestra to record the Indian national anthem. “I have worked on many versions of the Indian national anthem because it is the melody that I love the most. It feels really good to collaborate with my favourite British Orchestra to play the Indian national anthem since Britain has ruled us for more than a century (laughs),” Ricky said at the unveiling of the anthem at The Leela in Mumbai. The version is free for anyone to use, without any modifications.

A tribute to the Indian Army at Siachen

This stunning rendition was filmed as a tribute to the Indian Army stationed at the Siachen Glacier, the highest battlefield in the world. Conceived and directed by Bharatbala and Kanika Myer, the film was shot between 17,000 ft and 25,000 ft in minus 40 degrees Cenlsius. “The extreme temperature froze the camera, and the film did not move and got jammed! Luckily we had a second camera and had to keep a stove under the camera body to keep the camera functional,” Bharatbala told Rolling Stone India magazine in 2021.

Guitar version by Imnainla Jamir

Jamir, a part of the Nagaland-based band The Fantastic Company, won the hearts at the Hornbill Festival 2022, when she played the national anthem on an electric guitar. The video which went viral on social media was also been shared by industrialist Anand Mahindra. The event was attended by vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar and Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio.

National anthem in sign language

In a bid to encourage inclusivity, the Ministry of Human Resource Development released a version of the national anthem, beautifully sung in sign language. The video composed by Bollywood music director, late Aadesh Shrivastava featured Amitabh Bachchan along with specially-abled children and was shot against the backdrop of Red Fort.

National Anthem by Serenity Choir from Shillong

This harmonious rendition of the national anthem released on India's 70th Independence day featured singers of the Serenity Choir in their Khasi outfits, along with other singers from the North-East. “This version of the National Anthem is distinct for its layered harmony of voices. The search for harmony led me to the North East,” the video director-producer Vandana Kohli wrote in the video description on YouTube.

Piano rendition of Jana Gana Mana

Mumbai-based song writer and pianist Shayan Italia’s intimate rendition of the Indian national anthem became the most viewed national anthem ever on the video sharing website YouTube in 2018, then at with 72 million views (now at 103 million). The 2.35-minute version, on a Steinway Model D piano gifted to Italia by his late mother, who died of cancer 20 years ago, was directed by Farhad Vijay Arora and released with the hashtag #IWouldStandForThis.