On the 74th independence day, thousands from across India sing the National Anthem together, virtually. It was a unique and creative project called “Sounds of India”, in the first-ever collaboration between Prasar Bharati, Virtual Bharat, and Google.
Due to this Pandemic, the people are forced to stay home, but on the 74th Independence Day, they were not only muted but also virtual. It was an existence coming collectively of the voices of Indians from the mountains of Arunachal Pradesh to the expanses of the Thar desert. It was successfully achieved by the entire team behind the work as they planned it creatively.
As now 2020 has made people socially distanced, the film brings up strong emotions as we see Indians from all over the country sings National Anthem together. The voices had been collected by using Google AI and have been located right into a cinematic reimagination of Jana Gana Mana with the help of filmmaker Bharatbala and his crew at virtual Bharat.
It was a proud moment for Indians as now the world is suffering from huge infectious disease and we Indians celebrated our independence day with our limited resources. The virtual National Anthem hit Google Search, YouTube, and Doordarshan. It was posted on both Google India & Virtual Bharat’s official Twitter accounts. The clip was just 90 seconds long and they posted it by adding thanking the entire people of India for lending the voice to the National Anthem, which made the video 1 minute & 46 seconds long. The main motive of this unique idea was to bring Indians together in a digital medium, which was made accomplished by the entire team.
“My new idea for India, Virtual Bharat is about bringing India together virtually, bringing Indians together around short films about our culture, all in one place digitally. This was a perfect combination of all factors and the creative challenge was that there is a first of its kind technology that brings voices together in a unique AI musical experience. How do we use Indian voices without them feeling like technology and instead of feeling human? How to retain raw emotion?” Bharatbala said.
