EXCLUSIVE | Creator of 'Ram Anthem' Shailesh Gupta: 'Honoured to have received recognition from PM Narendra Modi'

On January 22, the globe saw the grand consecration ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. And the Ram Anthem instilled a spirit of pride in the nation. In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the creator and director of the anthem Shailesh Gupta spilled the beans on composing the anthem, PM Narendra Modi tweeting the song, and much more.

Edited excerpts from the interview

How does it feel as a Creator and an Indian to create this anthem for the Ram Mandir inauguration ceremony?

As you rightly said “Anthem”, it is not a song but an Anthem. Creating an Anthem was like my baby, which I conceived and moulded it, just like raising a child with good Sanskars along with the best of the people by my side putting their best work. Seeing the anthem creating its magic once it turned an Adult, I feel just like a Proud Father who is very ecstatic to see his Baby being Successful. Humbly, I would like to mention my father who had always dreamt and devoted himself for Ram Mandir all his lifetime. On this occasion, I would have loved to have him by my side witnessing the tribute I’ve tried to Create. Hence, I dedicate this “Ram Anthem” to him. And this Ram Anthem is not just for the inauguration Ceremony but to be remembered for eternity as a tribute to this historical event.

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How did you think of Shaan, Shankar Mahadevan, Kailash Kher and Aakriti Kakkar?

They’re all legendary. Their body of work speaks for themselves. Their singing is of different genres; hence we Specifically went for them. In fact I feel grateful that they all could come together and be a part of our anthem and created nothing but magic.

What are the reactions you have received for the anthem so far?

The reactions are truly overwhelming. While writing the anthem, we wished to have the youth connect. Especially the Gen-Z connect. We’re glad to see not just Gen-z but all the age groups are thoroughly enjoying watching and listening to it. We actually witnessed many happy reactions while we were on editing table editing the Anthem. The whole studio was foot-tapping, dancing over it and was quite excited about it. People are writing, calling, sharing it all over social media. It’s lovely to see them enjoying & we actually feel very proud to have created this all by ourselves.

How did it feel when PM Modi himself tweeted the song?

Its a great honour to have received the recognition from Prime Minister of this great country. There’s a saying in Hindi “Mohor Lagna”. The Prime Minister of the country appreciating your work and that too in less than 16 hours of releasing it, definitely gives me a feeling of Recognition, Motivation, Satisfaction and a feeling of Fulfilment & Contentment. This definitely motivates me to keep working and doing better and better. My whole team including Sameer Ji and Shankar ji, Shaan, Akriti & Kailash ji are happy to have it recognised by him.

What are you planning next? Any upcoming projects you want to discuss?

Making of this anthem was an exhilarating experience, would definitely like to do more such projects in near future. Also planning couple of feature films including one on the mysterious death of Deendayal Upadhyaya, the founder of Jana Sangh (Present BJP).