Musical legend AR Rahman has composed a handful of patriotic songs which celebrates the spirit of unity of the great nation. He had released the super hit fast number ‘Vande Mataram’ as the country celebrated the Golden Jubilee of independence. Twenty five years before it, his father, noted musician RK Sekhar too had composed some incredible patriotic songs. Even though these songs had been popular once, they were eventually forgotten.
However, a social media post hoping that AR Ameen (AR Rahman’s son) would continue this family tradition by composing and singing a patriotic song, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Indian independence has gone viral.
It was Shijo Manuel who pointed out some interesting facts in a note posted on his social media page. Now, AR Rahman himself has retweeted Shijo’s post which gives a sneak peak into the fabulous history of patriotic songs that have been composed by this family of exceptionally talented musicians.
Shijo begins his social media post by hoping that AR Ameen would continue the tradition that was started by his grandfather RK Shekhar. It was some time ago that Shijo had chanced upon six Malayalam patriotic songs in the form of short play vinyl records that were composed by RK Shekhar in 1972. “My initial curiosity was that they were film songs that were composed by RK Shekhar. The songs were rendered by Yesudas, Jayachandran, P Leela, B Vasanta and Sudha Varma. Meanwhile, the lines of the songs were penned by Sreekumaran Thambi, writer and composer Paramasivam who later changed his name to Peter (Peter – Ruben) and a newcomer Venu. Two records were released by HMV while one was by Colombia (This might have happened as Yesudas and B Vasanta were artists associated with HMV while P Leela and Jayachandran were with Columbia). As I have seen the many records that were released to honor Mahatma Gandhi’s birth centenary in 1968, I assumed that there must be a reason why so many records were released at the same time. I noticed the year in which RK Shekhar’s records were released – 1972. It was the silver jubilee of Indian independence!” writes Shijo.
The lines of these songs celebrate the India – Pakistan war that took place the previous year and honor Indira Gandhi who was the Prime Minister then. “If RK Shekhar had composed the patriotic songs on the silver jubilee, it was his son AR Rahman who released the super hit ‘Vande Mataram’, on the golden jubilee year in 1997. However, I don’t think anyone had noticed this coincidence then. It would create history if AR Ameen, the Oscar winner’s son and a third generation singer of the family, would compose and sing a patriotic song on the Platinum jubilee year of Indian independence. (I am not saying this forgetting GV Prakash Kumar. I noted AR Ameen, as Vande Mataram is a chain that connects them). I really wish that Ameen pays tribute to the country and his family by composing or singing a patriotic song,” Shijo concludes his social media post.
