<img style="float: left;" title="Rahul Da Cunha" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2015/dec/rahul-da-cunha.jpg" alt="Rahul Da Cunha" width="200" height="54" />So, Dada and Didi invited The Big B, the Little Master and evergreen Imran Khan to inaugurate the Indo-Pak summit T20 clash last Sunday in Kolkota.
The 62-year-old Pathan annoys me &mdash; not because he destroyed our batting many a time in the past &mdash; but because even close up there&rsquo;s not a hint of a face lift, nip tuck, Botox or plastic surgery on him.
As the two teams lined up, before the historic match, it was national anthem time.
<img title="Big B" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/mar/27-Big-B.jpg" alt="Big B" /> Illustration/Uday Mohite
One only gets the chance to hear these fascinating rashtriya gaanas before a cricket or football World Cup match.
The lyrics and the tune kind of sum up the personality of a nation.
But, frankly, it&rsquo;s the audience in the stands/stadia that gives you a sense of the mood in their country by their response to the &lsquo;song&rsquo;.
I mean, when the Afghani anthem comes on, every word is like a a stern warning. With the players thinking, &ldquo;Man if we lose this match, it&rsquo;s the Al Qaeda or Taliban who&rsquo;ll have a price on our head&rdquo;.
The fans in the stands are thinking, &ldquo;Man if we don&rsquo;t sing, it&rsquo;s 100 lashes at the public square! There must be a satellite camera watching us from above the mountains of Waziristan?&rdquo;
In contrast, the West Indian anthem is like a calypso, the spectators dancing in the aisles.
Our Jana Gana Mana is audience friendly &mdash; plus it&rsquo;s short and sweet and can even be sung between mouthfuls of popcorn. Unlike the Bangladeshi Amar Shonar Bangla which is so slow and long that I&rsquo;m convinced the team lost Wednesday&rsquo;s match because they were so exhausted just singing it. The Pakistani Quami Taranah is so complex that most of the guys in green don&rsquo;t know the lyrics &mdash; except Shahid Afridi, of course, which is the only reason why he&rsquo;s the captain of the team.
In a surprise move, Bachchan saab sang our rashtriya gaana. The superstar used his improvisational skills, pausing between words, giving the anthem a bit of the acapella edge &mdash; Sr Bachchan admitted to Jr Bachchan that he had requested Mamata Banerjee &mdash; &ldquo;May I sing &lsquo;Yeh dosti, hum nahin todenge&rsquo; from the film Sholay, instead. It&rsquo;s kind of symbolic&hellip;you know, it&rsquo;ll foster good relations with the Pakis.&rdquo;
Didi apparently told him &mdash; &ldquo;Uh&hellip;Piku&hellip;sorry Bochchon Shaab&hellip;with due respect, &lsquo;Yeh dosti&rsquo; is a duet, not a solo&hellip;you cannot sing it alone&hellip;&rdquo;
After India beat Pakistan, Bachchan saab was asked by Sachin paaji: &lsquo;Sir you paused every time before singing &lsquo;Jaya hai&rsquo; which comes many times, especially in the end, &mdash; &lsquo;Jaya hai, jaya hai&hellip;jaya jaya jaya jaya hai&hellip;&rsquo; why sir?&rdquo;
Amitji replied &mdash; &ldquo;You see, Tendu, I was not pausing&hellip;but mid-anthem, my wife was trying to reach me by phone&hellip;so I was returning the call and asking my servant &mdash; &ldquo;Jaya hai, jaya hai?&rdquo;
Obviously, such variations have landed the Big B in some legal trouble &mdash; (a complaint has been filed accusing him of taking five seconds longer to sing it ).
The Delhi Court has decided on Mr Bachchan&rsquo;s sentence for this unpatriotic act.
He is to chant &lsquo;Bharat Mata Ki Jai&rsquo; 15 times a day.
Rahul da Cunha is an adman, theatre director/playwright, photographer and traveller. Reach him at rahuldacunha62@gmail.com

So, Dada and Didi invited The Big B, the Little Master and evergreen Imran Khan to inaugurate the Indo-Pak summit T20 clash last Sunday in Kolkota.

Rahul da Cunha: Anthems in acapella

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Rahul da Cunha: Anthems in acapella

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