What is the latest topic of debate on Twitter? No, it’s not Tharoor again. It’s version 2.0 of the very loved national integration jingle, ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’, titled ‘Phir Mile Sur’. On the eve of India’s 60th year of being a Republic, ‘Phir Mile Sur‘ was released by none other than Amitabh Bachchan. Launched more than 2 decades after the first one came out in 1988, the sequel of the melody is receiving a lot of flak from the very vociferous Indian netizen.
This 16 minute video is in two parts of 8 minutes each. Since its first TV and web outing, Twitter and Facebook have been abuzz with extreme reactions to the song, veering more towards the negative. The first negative reaction was a “Is there a dislike button?” on Facebook, followed by condemnations on its alleged brand endorsements.
Twitter was buzzing soon. Twitterer telljeeves was one of the most vocal ones, as is evident from his tweets. “AARRRRRRRRRGH……… just watched the new mile sur mera. tried to keep old one’s baggage away. BUT STILL. Basically complete freedom given to everyone not to sing as they wish. But to kill the song as they wish. In the name of being modern. If Shahid and Deepika were there to indicate youth and freshness, damn youth and freshness! Just got my sanity back. Watched the old one. Twice.”, he tweeted in consecutive tweets. Shenoyn, a Mumbaikar, known for his witty wordplay, had this to say – “Just saw the mile sur thing. It’s just a sordid brand building exercise. Tragedy is that India is going to love it.”
Some of the most telling tweets came from Twitterer itsakx, whose tweets were all the rage. Some of her tweets were: “Phir Mile Sur: India’s answer to Twilight” and “To make up for the absence of MS Subbalakshmi, Priyanka Chopra sways her head like a dandelion in hurricane winds”. Madmanweb, chef and an avid Twitterer, who recently hit the 1000 fan mark, tweeted Mile Sur Mera Tumara Part One – if you’re going to make a 16 minute version of it, at least get the lip syncing right”.
