Every Indian must hear the Bengali song from which the national anthem emerged

Singing a national anthem is an occasion that uncorks a sense of intense passion in individuals. It is an expression of nationalism, a celebration of the pride that people sharing a common identity have in their motherland. It is one of the vehicles that binds an "imagined community" together. The passion that nationalism entails gets heightened manifold when it is expressed through song, dance and drama. It is precisely what the original song, from which India's national anthem originated, does. A rendering of the song was released in the form of a video and is part of the upcoming film Rajkahini. Here are some more reasons that make the video a must-watch:

1. Not many would have had an opportunity to listen to the complete version of the song, a part of which was adopted as India's national anthem. The song "Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata", composed by the great Rabindranath Tagore comprises the original and complete Bengali lyrics consisting of five stanzas, only the first stanza of which became our national anthem.

2. The song is part of a film that is directed by none other than the critically-acclaimed filmmaker Srijit Mukherji.

3. The visuals of India's struggle for freedom, Partition, communal riots, with the baritone of a Kabir Suman and the melodious voice of a Lopamudra Mitra playing in the background are sure to give you goosebumps. It transports you back to a day and age of which we have only read in history books and heard in legends.

4. The song has been rendered by a galaxy of singers, and apart from Kabir Suman and Lopamudra Mitra, Babul Supriyo, Rupam Islam and others have lent their voices to the song.

5. The film stars noted actors like Rituparna Sengupta, Swastika Mukherjee, Jisshu Sengupta, and Saswata Chatterjee in major roles, and the video whets our appetite for the film which is slated to release next month.

The Hindi version of the song was adopted as India's national anthem by the Constituent Assembly on January 24, 1950 and was first sung on December 27, 1911 at the Kolkata session of the Congress. The "Jana Gana Mana" had courted controversy over the import of certain words in it and some people had argued that having "Vande Mataram" as the national anthem would have made better sense. But for the time being, controversy or no controversy, let us allow ourselves to be swept away by the sheer gem of a creation and reaffirm our love for the motherland. 

Here is the video of the original song from which our national anthem emerged: