The year was 1987. Rajiv Gandhi had taken over as Prime Minister against a troubled political backdrop. But he was nothing like his predecessors; he was our youth icon — genteel, suave and progressive. That year, he and Doordarshan’s director general Bhaskar Ghose felt that Indian patriotism needed a shot in the arm.
Advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather was appointed to make the film. (Rajiv Gandhi played a major role in getting the I&B Ministry to choose a ‘westernised’ agency instead of a government-funded one to script and produce a film on national integration.) The team led by Suresh Mullick and film director Kailash Surendranath was briefed.
Suresh, O&M’s maverick creative director, was already an advertising legend. Not only was he a great visualiser and writer, but he had an enviable, in-depth knowledge of music across genres. After some brainstorming, he decided to use our sports heroes, both current and past, in the film. Nothing inspires patriotism in Indian hearts the way sports does.
The visuals were deceptively simple: a flame passed from person to person, till it finally reached the hands of children — our future. It was pretty much inspired by Chariots of Fire (the 1981 film on two British athletes at the 1924 Olympics). But there was one big difference. This was not one continuous shot filmed at a single location, but multiple shots taken across the country at iconic locations, and seamlessly spliced together.
Close calls and coordination
We all know the film: it starts with the sound of a bugle, and the visual of a lone man (cricketer K Srikkanth) holding aloft a lit torch, running by the sea at sunrise. Then comes the main melody, which gets richer and fuller with each subsequent bar, layered over with keyboard, strings, percussion and horns. It builds up to a crescendo and an unexpected finale of ‘ Jayahe! ’ from our national anthem. The finale has not lost its impact in 34 years. Composer Louis Banks’ name will forever be in the annals of history thanks to this outstanding anthem.
The westernised track, however, was not what the powers at Doordarshan were expecting. They watched the film aghast, protesting that the national anthem was sacred. But Rajiv Gandhi loved it and gave the nod.
How did I come into the picture? I was a 20-something head of the film department at O&M Madras. And like my counterparts in Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore and Calcutta, I was roped in to get the sportspeople on board. This was a time before cellphones and email, so the groundwork was long and tedious. Some of the personalities needed a little convincing, but every one we wanted came on board. Doordarshan picked up the production tab, but neither the sportspeople nor the production team took a fee.
I handled the Madras section — Srikkanth, and track and field athletes PT Usha and Shiny Abraham. (Ramesh and Ramanathan Krishnan’s segment had already been done at the Madras Club.) Having worked with Srikkanth on an endorsement previously, I had his home phone number and got him on board. The girls, along with their coach Nambiar, were another matter.
They were returning from Malaysia after the Asian Track and Field event, and their flight was expected to land in Chennai at 1 am on the day of the shoot. Since I was the film executive and could speak Malayalam, I was designated to meet them at the airport, along with my colleague Ramesh. After a long wait, the athletes and their coach emerged from the terminal and we raced towards them. Nambiar wasn’t too keen on his protégés being part of what he considered was a silly advertisement, but after some cajoling, we bundled them into a car and brought them to the Connemara Hotel. There were some heart-stopping moments when the hotel told us there was no room for Nambiar. But we soon sorted that out and checked them in. I was a little surprised, however, that the hotel staff didn’t react to the presence of the two world-famous athletes.
We then raced to Srikkanth’s house in Kalakshetra Colony. He was sleepy, and a little grouchy, but nonetheless was ready in his tracksuit at 4 am. Bless him! We rushed him to the beach resort where the film crew, along with Suresh and Kailash, were waiting. Srikkanth took up his position on the beach and probably did three runs to nail the shot. We dropped him back and headed to the Connemara.
Deer on the track
This time, the atmosphere at the hotel was different. When Usha and Shiny came down to the lobby in their tracksuits, there was a collective gasp followed by an awestruck hush from the people around. I guess the girls were not easily recognisable the night before in their salwar kameezes ! I was gratified.
- Cricketers K Srikkanth, Tiger Pataudi (who ran with his daughter Soha Ali Khan), Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, EAS Prasanna, BS Chandrasekhar, and S Venkataraghavan; footballers PK Banerjee, Chuni Goswami, and Jarnail Singh; track and field athletes Milkha Singh, PT Usha, Shiny Abraham, and Adille Sumariwalla; tennis players Ramanathan Krishnan, Ramesh Krishnan, and Nirupama Mankad; swimmer Taranath Shenoy; billiards player Michael Ferreira; hockey players Balbir Singh, Merwyn Fernandes; basketball player Abbas Moontasir; badminton player Prakash Padukone; and 50 kids from Lawrence School (Lovedale, Ooty).
The location for their shoot was the beautiful IIT Campus in Madras. The crew was waiting at the racetrack, adjacent to the deer park. When the camera was set up, Usha and Shiny got down to their shorts. I remember thinking that they looked like gazelles — all rippling muscles and grace. Then a miracle happened. A herd of deer ambled out of the woods. Suresh and Kailash had an inspiration. They asked Usha to walk over to where the deer were grazing. Shiny was to take her position a little ahead, run up and hand the torch to Usha. It was a gamble; we had only one chance to get it right. The director gave them a hand signal, Shiny ran over and handed the torch, and Usha started running. She startled the deer, but instead of scattering into the woods, they ran along the tracks ahead of her. It was magical! That high-speed shot, along with the soundtrack, which starts to soar at this point, never fails to give me goosebumps.
A month later, the film was completed. I had gone to the Bombay office on work and met Suresh in the corridor. With childlike enthusiasm, he steered me into a packed conference hall. I stood among my colleagues and watched the film unfold, eyes moist. It was played on loop all week.
Spread the Light of Freedom was aired on Doordarshan on August 15, 1987. It had an astounding impact across the nation. Thirty four years later, it is still loved and treasured. We hadn’t realised back then that we were witnessing history in the making. I left advertising almost 30 years ago, but the pride of being associated with this film and its creators will stay with me forever.
Geeta John runs an interior design practice in Bengaluru and dabbles in film styling, writing and playback singing.
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