Balmiki Pratibha takes the final bow with its 100th act
On Sunday, 17 November, Rabindra Sadan witnessed the 100th and final staging of Balmiki Pratibha, Rabindranath Tagore’s timeless tale of redemption.
A day before India wakes up to celebrate its 71th Independence Day, Indians across the globe smashed all records for national anthems. Uploaded on July 29, 2018, the Jana Gana Mana video of Shayan Italia has garnered more than 71 million YouTube views.
Within 15 days of listing, the #IWOULDSTANDFORTHIS video of Rabindranath Tagore’s ode to India had attracted more than 70 million views so far, becoming the most viewed online video of the Indian national anthem ever and the most viewed in the world. It is now the most viewed single video of any national anthem of the world on YouTube, overtaking the French national anthem video which has 36 million views.
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Take a look at the video here.
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Prior to this the record for the Indian anthem was under 9 million views. The creators of the video, pianist Shayan Italia and director Farhad Vijay Arora, had expected India to unite for the #71for71challenge. They were confident that, by 15 August, their heartfelt rendition of Rabindranath Tagore’s ode will get 71 million views— marking 1 million views to celebrate each year of India’s 71 years of Independence.
And they were not wrong. At the time of writing this report, the video had a total of 71,663,404 views.
This contemporary version of the timeless classic is a creation of Shayan Italia. The composition has been arranged and rendered on the world’s grandest concert piano, the flagship Steinway Model D, to befit the Jana Gana Mana’s majesty and stature. Exceeding all expectations, within less than 24 hours of going live on YouTube, the video had crossed 5 million views.
Hyderabad born Shayan Italia is a pianist, songwriter, and an entrepreneur. His latest creation is in remembrance of his mother for the gift of music she left him before she succumbed to cancer when he was a child.
“India is going through trying, divisive times as never before. The singular aim is to bring all of India together in the next two weeks to celebrate our great country’s most celebrated treasure–the Jana Gana Mana,” says Shayan.
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