A song that many Indians grew up with, "Mile sur mera tumhara" is said to be the brainchild of Jaideep Samarth, brother of actresses Nutan & Tanuja and then an executive with Ogilvy Benson & Mather (OBM) - 1/n
Samarth had this idea of a song representing different facets & personalities of India to demonstrate the idea of "Unity in Diversity." Samarth who knew PM Rajiv Gandhi personally discussed it with the latter - 2/n
Gandhi was apparently very excited & asked him to go-ahead on it. Samarth approached Suresh Mallick, then national creative head of OBM who got Kailash Surendranath on board to direct it - 3/n
Pt. Bhimsen Joshi was approached to score the music & he agreed immediately. Surendranath filmed the opening sequence of Pt. Joshi in the backdrop of Pambar Falls in Kodaikanal where he'd earlier shot Liril ad films - 4/n
Pt. Vinod Sharma was brought on board to write the lyrics. Legend has it that Pt. Sharma was a bit too fond of the tipple & so a young account manager at Ogilvy was entrusted to chaperone Sharma - 5/n
With lyric writing often taking a backseat, Pandey tried is hand at penning the same and ended up writing Mile sur mera.... a move that apparently led to his move from client servicing to creative - 6/n
Surendranath had shot Taj Mahal from a helicopter with help from a senior IAF official, a move which earned him the wrath of the government. One appearance which was unplanned was that of Kamal Hassan - 7/n
He had accompanied M. Balamuralikrishna for the shoot at the beach and agreed for an impromptu appearance. Mile sur mera tumhara also featured the Deccan Queen & Calcutta Metro - 8/n
*his
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