Music composers Salim-Sulaiman talk to Divya Kaushik about composing a multi-lingual animal anthem to spread awareness on wildlife
The duo has always been successful in their attempt of creating songs that are not only pleasing to the ears but that also inspire and motivate. After creating songs like Chak De India, Ye Hausla and Aashayein, music composers and singers Salim Sulaiman have come up with an interesting composition that’s called Yeh Mera India Animal Anthem for Animal Planet. The multi-lingual song has been sung by Salim, June Banerjee and Nandini Srikar in Hindi, Bengali and Tamil, respectively. “We wanted to keep the song multi-lingual as we wanted it to reach the masses and music has that charm and strength to bond people. The song is created to spread awareness and draw attention towards the wildlife and the natural treasure we are gifted with. This song will definitely touch the hearts and will bring people much close to animals,” said Sulaiman, adding that both of them have been animal lovers all their lives and have pet dogs.
The work on the song began over a month ago, when the channel came up with the idea. “There was no brief given to us and we just thought of creating something that connects us to the world of animals. Every now and then there are various initiatives taken to remind us of our responsibility towards environment and wildlife, but I think music remains with people for long. We have created songs in the past that have inspired many. As artistes we have always brought out such music that doesn’t fade away from the public memory too soon. If you take an example of Chake De India, the song emerged as an unofficial anthem of the youth and was loved for its spirit by people of all age groups. For Prakash Jha’s forthcoming film Satyagraha we have written a song Raghupati Raghav, that is more like a prayer but will add to our list of songs that touch the hearts of the masses,” shared Sulaiman.
Yeh Mera India will air on Animal Planet from August 15. The show features wildlife, rich and varied landscapes and great natural treasure troves of India. The series travels from the mountains of Himalayas to wetlands of Odisha, and from Sahyadari ranges in Western Ghats to Bandhavgarh forests in the heart of India. The line-up features rare species like the lion-tailed macaque, mahseer fish, goonch fish, Malabar pit vipers, dholes and gharials. The line-up includes programmes like Jungle Hooks: India chronicling epic journeys of angler Jeremy Wade to Ganges in search of most bizarre and dangerous fish; Odisha’s Wetlands documenting the contribution of wetlands in maintaining the ecological balance; Nagarahole- Tales from an Indian Jungle capturing the natural spectacle of Nagarhole Park from one monsoon season to the next and investigating the threats to India’s precious ecological heritage; Creatures Of The Great Rains portraying the effect of monsoons on creatures great and small: from elephants to frogs, tigers to monkeys, rhinos to leeches; and Shola-India’s Jungle of Rain showcasing the incredible variety of wildlife present in the Western Ghats.