Anirban Das (MID-DAY; June 17, 2016)

Over four decades ago, India’s first woman Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency in India, setting off nearly two years of widespread arrests, censorship of the press and severe curtailment of civil liberties. The country came to know of it via an unscheduled broadcast on All India Radio (AIR) in the early hours of June 26, 1975. Gandhi’s declaration of Emergency has been included in Kay Kay Menon’s San 75 (San Pachhattar) in the form of a song, we hear.

“Since the film is based on the Emergency Period, the makers felt it would be apt to include the late Prime Minister’s speech. However, it will be converted into a song to suit the film’s screenplay. The audio rights have been taken from AIR and the video rights from the Film Division of India as they are the sole rights holder. The makers have bought the footage for Rs 59,316,” says a source.

The sound track is titled Panic. “It has been composed by Sandeep Madhavan of Detective Byomkesh Bakshy fame. It took him three months and 15 versions to set the right song for the film,” adds the source.

Confirming the development, the film’s producer Kabir Lovee says, “Yes, we have bought the audio and video rights separately from AIR and Film Division respectively. We did not want to just use the speech, and have, therefore, converted the original speech into a soundtrack.”