Cartoon Network India telecast a special Republic Day episode of Roll No. 21 this year to celebrate the spirit of the occasion.
Here’s the backstory of this particular episode & song from the horse’s mouth, i.e. the writer, Alok Sharma‘s words, ” देश निराला – ‘Desh Nirala’ is a very special Republic Day song/episode that we created for Cartoon Network India’s Roll No. 21.
Last year, many people were planning to boycott the Republic Day Celebrations for some stupid reasons. It was disheartening for me as a person. I mean, I have always loved the 26th of January Republic Day Parade; the processions, floats from various states, the Armed Forces displaying their power, bike-balancing acts, kids getting Bravery Awards… I Tweeted/Facebooked my angst against that stupidity initially, but then I realized, they don’t really care about those proud moments that we all have spent sitting in front of our television sets on every 26th of January as kids. Out of that angst and frustration, I came up with the idea of this particular episode. It wasn’t easy, we had several discussions over the story and finally after three drafts the episode was okayed as a double feature (i.e. a half hour episode as opposed to the regular 15 mins one).
Then came a googly – we decided to weave a song into the story. Though I have written jingles in the past, writing a song was a big challenge. It took me three-four attempts before we finally had this song in the episode! My idea was to create a Delhi centric song on the lines of Jagriti’s ‘Aao Bachcho Tumhein Dikhaayein Jhaanki Hindustaan Ki’.
I really hope people like the song and the episode as well – and that they watch it with their kids! So that the next time anybody talks about boycotting the Republic Day celebrations, tell them to shut up and let the coming generations enjoy the processions and be proud of the great nation, we live in. Jai Hind!”