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Sara Jahan Hamara

Anaida

Picture this: You're standing in the middle of nowhere, miles and miles away from any feasible mode of transport. The guy who's driven you here just gypped you for a fifty, but you struggle on, undeterred. Green hills, volcanoes, palaces in the desert, gigantic tablas, rustic huts, yup, an entire village full of 'em, surround you. And no, you're not in surreal mode. You hit that when you spy the kids.

The Kids. Not one, two or 10. Fifty of them. Surrounded by friends and family. Little devils of despair, rolling on the grass, pulling each other's hair, whining for a soda, vying for attention. Millions of children and no transport in sight. But you don't break out in hives. Probably because you have a job to do, a mission to complete. And that's when you spy them.

All three of them are standing together, eyeing the rebellious brood. Tall, hunky guys, big, very big. But all that beef doesn't seem to be cutting any ice with the younger bunch. That's until the other two come on.

Atul Agnihotri

The kids snap into attention. So do their parents. The Big Boss, should we call him, blows a whistle, and they step into line. "One, two, three and go," he says, and they break into a routine that would put Karishma Kapoor to shame.

Your head's probably reeling by now. So snap out of it. After all, this isn't a cross between Saajan Chale Sasural and Three Men and a Baby. Actually, it's a music video. Anaida's, to be precise. For a song called Sara Jahan Hamara, from an album produced by BMG Crescendo.

Says Anaida, "It's an album compiled to celebrate 50 years of Independence. I had recorded Sara Jahan Hamara a few years ago but, since there were too many Indian songs happening then, we thought it wasn't the best time to release it." So when BMG decided to put together this album about India, she thought it would work well. "It's not pushing nationalism or anything, it's just a lighthearted album, stressing unity, peace and harmony."

Turning this "lighthearted" nationalistic song into a saleable commodity might have posed a problem. And that's where the video comes in. Directed by Colossus, the same guys that gave us Baba Sehgal's Tora Tora and Mehnaz's Miss India, to name a few; they wanted to try something different this time.

Says Sameer Hafiz, one of the partners, "we didn't want to do one of those Jai Hind, saluting-marching kind of numbers that practically thrust patriotism down your throat. Instead, we wanted to appeal to the humane side of being Indian, all the love, peace and sense of giving that exists within each one of us."

Kumar Gaurav

So they are appealing to that humane side. In a big way. After discussions with BMG Crescendo, the music company and Anaida, they hit upon an idea -- instead of one narrative for the song, they decided to use four short pieces. And instead of just using anybody, they thought, well, why not a celebrity?

Says Suresh Thomas, managing director, BMG Crescendo (India), "The celebrities were Colossus's idea. Originally, I wanted to use ordinary people. But they convinced me it would work better with well-known faces."

Explains Sameer, "There's a big difference between an unknown face and a celebrity. When you see a celebrity going out of his way to help someone, it makes a sharper impact. You'd think, if he can do it, so can I. "

Adds Anaida, "The idea is make everyone approachable, more human. It's trying to say there's no difference between stars and normal people."

Some logic. But that's what roped in actors Sanjay Dutt, Atul Agnihotri, Salman Khan and Kumar Gaurav, who are all in the video. How'd they manage a coup like that? Sameer smiles rather sheepishly, "Actually, they're friends. That's probably the only reason why they agreed to it. We'd already used Atul in Anaida's first video, Oova Oova , but very briefly -- it was Anaida's image that had to be established."

Anaida chips in, "Now I'm in a position to do more message-oriented stuff, and I believe that the celebrities add to the video -- they're glorifying a common job."

Sanjay Dutt

The jobs they're glorifying are divided into the four sequences. You have Sanjay Dutt stopping his car to help a coolie with his load. You have Salman Khan as a worker who parts with his salary when he sees an elderly couple in need. And then there's Atul, who plays and feeds street kids.

Says Sameer, "We didn't want to seem to goody-goody, which is why Kumar Gaurav's narrative is slightly different. We've shot him walking past a couple of mean-looking policemen, holding someone who's picked his pocket by the scruff of his neck. When the policemen look at them inquiringly, he immediately acts like he's got his arm around the guy so that the latter doesn't get into any more trouble."

Forgiveness that puts mere mortals to shame. And all this goodness accompanied by Anaida and the bandwagon of babies we've mentioned earlier, "representing," what Anaida calls, "the hopes of a new generation."

Watching the shoot, you'd wonder what those little devils really represent. While Big Boss Toby, the choreographer, strides determinedly towards them, Suresh Thomas spends a few minutes with me, discussing music videos.

"Music videos are basically marketing the album," he says, "It's free space on air, so it's a great way to publicise the artist and his or her work." And what about creativity? "Of course, the concept is important," he says, "Usually the artist, the music company and the director sit around and work it out."

Salman Khan

The budget, he says, varies, depending on the scope of the song and what we feel is the best way to highlight it. "For instance, Miss India was launching Mehnaaz as a singer, so we did it on a grand scale. Main Hoon,her next release, simply needed to re-establish her dancing abilities (she used to be part of Shiamak Davar's troupe) and affirm her position as an entertainer."

"It would cost anywhere between Rs 600,000 and Rs 1.2 million to make a music video, he says. "Though this one (indicates towards Anaida and the kids) is being shot on 35mm, since we're using big stars."

Big stars and little stars. While the big ones were unavailable for comments, having whizzed off for shooting schedules in India and abroad, the little stars were only too happy to comply. "I love dancing," says 10-year-old Vishaal, "And Toby uncle is very good. But I want to grow up and become like Akshay Kumar."

Proud mama Kapoor is all smiles, "They've been working very hard. For the past two weeks, they've been practising for two hours every day on Juhu beach." What about school? "Holidays are on," she says, eyeing me rather disdainfully, "Besides, I want my Vishaal to become a big star."

And, after checking out his debut performance at Film City that day, you'd think he just might stand a chance!