What it needs is 30 crore votes. Any less and the Taj Mahal will not make it to the list of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
Will falling off a list decided by an Internet poll lessen the ethereal beauty of the Taj to any degree? Of course not.
In that case, should we be worried enough to try and rustle up 30 crore votes before July 7, 2007? (see box).
A R Rahman certainly thinks so. The composer has put his musical might behind the effort to urge Indians to make that 30crore figure (which works out to a little less than one crore votes a day as of today He has composed . an anthem called One Love or Ek Mohabbat, and enlisted friend Owais Husain (painter and son of artist M F Husain) to collaborate on a music video, which will be aired next week.
As Rahman put it, "The Taj is beyond religion. It is not just a building of marble. It's no more about Shahjahan or Mumtaz. It's ours, and our pride is at stake. If you have ever loved, or are in love now or going to love later, here's an opportunity to feel good about voting for the monument of love."
Adds Husain, "If it were to lose its status, so many people would lose out on work."
He says the video posed an enormous challenge for him, especially as his prior directorial experience is limited to shooting the songs for his father's film Minaxi.
"The three biggest creative clichés about the Taj are it is India, it is a timeless beauty and it represents love. I tried to step away from these but found that if you lose them completely, you lose the essence of the drive to vote for the Taj," says Husain.
The video, shot by cinematographer Santosh Sivan (Asoka, Dil Se), tells a story of love, woven with threads of Indian heritage and culture. "We have used children in the song as a metaphor for destiny; an older boy and girl represent love and romance. I have incorporated weavers and fabric to show how millions of stories are woven into India's fabric," says Husain.
However, the Taj itself is not mentioned in the lyrics, because, he says, the song is not Seven Wonders propaganda but a timeless tune that can outlive the campaign.
"The song will be released in Hindi, Bengali and four South Indian languages. There is also a print, radio and TV campaign," says Bharat Kapadia of the 'India Unites for the Taj' campaign. Digital media company I Media Corp Ltd, he estimates, will spend between Rs 15-20 crore"without government support". He adds, "If we lose out, it will be a national shame."
Owais is also working on both a biopic and documentary on his father. "I want to document the early decades of the 40s, 50s and 60s and what made him the person and painter he is," he says. Owais spent the whole of last year with his father between London and Dubai so that his young son could spend time with his grandfather. Ask him whether MF Husain plans to return to India and he says, "He wishes to come back but right now he's obsessed with his work and in at the most prolific phase of his life. He lives between London, Switzerland and Dubai but looks for his India everywhere in the people he meets, movies he watches and food he eats."
But for now it's the legacy of the Taj and protecting India's national pride that preoccupy Owais. July 7 will tell us if his efforts have paid off.
YOUR VOTE COUNTS ? Vote online at www.indiainfo.com or www.new7wonders.com ? SMS ‘TAJ' to 4567 (eg: Taj Name Age M/F City). There is no restriction on the number of SMS votes ? Dial 1255545 (for MTNL mobile subscribers) or 127777 (MTNL landline subscribers) ? You can vote till midnight July 6, 2007 Candidates for the New Seven Wonders Of the World 1. The Acropolis, Greece 2. Alhambra, Spain 3. Angkor, Cambodia 4. Chichen Itz, Mexico 5. Christ Redeemer, Brazil 6. The Colosseum, Rome 7. Easter Island, Chile 8. Eiffel Tower, France 9. Great Wall of China 10. Hagia Sophia, Turkey 11. Kiyomizu Temple, Japan 12. Kremlin, Russia 13. Machu Picchu, Peru 14. Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany 15. Petra, Jordan 16. Statue of Liberty, USA 17. Stonehenge, UK 18. Sydney Opera House, Australia 19. Taj Mahal, India 20. Timbuktu, Mali
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