Date:24/04/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/fr/2009/04/24/stories/2009042450550200.htm

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Revisit the magic through music

SAVITHA GAUTAM

Harmony After the DVD release of Shyam Benegal’s ‘Bharat Ek Khoj,’ now one can listen to its melody on a 4-CD pack.

Variety of genres The CD pack

Discovery of India

Excerpts from the original sound track of ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’
4-CD pack,
Times Music, Rs. 895

When the epic series ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ hit the small screen in 1988, it made history. Literally! The budget, the sets, a stellar star cast, one of the country’s intelligent filmmakers Shyam Benegal at the helm and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s ‘Discovery of India’ providing the content… everything about the series made news and more important, captured the viewers’ imagination.

The 53 episodes, telecast on Sundays on Doordarshan, took viewers on a magical journey through 5,000 years of Indian history, beginning with the Indus Valley Civilisation and concluding with the Independence Struggle and its aftermath.

And learning about Indian history was never the same again.

Riveting history

Every week, when Roshan Seth as Jawaharlal Nehru walked into our living room and spoke about the Vedic Age, the Sangam era, the Epics, the Bhakti Movement, the glorious dynasties such as the Mughals, the Guptas, and of course the Independence Struggle, we would sit riveted. So much so, requests poured in for Benegal to release the series in a DVD format.

And much to the delight of many, an 18-pack and a 9-pack DVD set was released a year ago.

Now, Times Music has released a 4-CD pack of the music. The chant-like title track ‘Srishti Se Pehle Kuch Nahin Tha…’, the lyrics for which were sourced from the Vedas, was on everybody’s lips as long as the serial was telecast.

Vanraj Bhatia, who had the stupendous task of putting together music for the series, used a variety of genres to suit the mood and time of the episodes.

So, one could hear Buddhist chants during the reign of Ashoka, and soulful ghazals of Amir Khusro and Mirza Ghalib for the Mughal period, Vedic chants for the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and ‘Vaishnava Jana To’ and ‘Raghupati Raghava’ when Mahatma Gandhi led the nation.

Every tune and every lyric has been carefully chosen to suit the period and the mood, adding another dimension to the serial.

Here’s a chance to revisit the magic of ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ through its music.