A boy is resting in a field of grass when a raindrop falls on his face. He runs and dances across a village in Kerala when he sees a small army of leaders holding black umbrellas. The animated line of people becomes a map of Kerala as the faces of the leaders become clear. Up ahead is Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, followed by Health Minister KK Shailaja, with Congress leaders like Shashi Tharoor and Hibi Eden in the line. Health workers and police personnel are also among them.
The video, with a song that its makers call ‘The Kerala Anthem’ in the background, was launched online by Malayalam film star Mammootty.
“The song was written four years ago! Like we say in the beginning of the song, it was conceived as a song of ‘brotherhood and dreams’. But in March, when the nationwide lockdown was announced to contain COVID-19, we made it an anthem for the Kerala model,” says filmmaker Jubith Namradath, who directed the video and wrote the lyrics for the song.
The lyrics didn’t have to be changed one bit. Whatever he wrote about brotherhood and dreams matched the message he wanted to convey now.
Let’s go watch the rain,
Let’s go to, together
Beyond the fallen nights,
Beneath the holy sky,
We kept on
Moving, moving, moving,
showed no signs of slowing down...
Up up we go, Up we go, Up up up up Up we go
The song was written before both the floods that caused a lot of devastation in the state and before the dreadful Nipah virus outbreak. But the words were about the coming together of people, which matched all the above occasions when the people of Kerala came together and fought the disasters.
“Not that the Kerala model does not have flaws, but we thought of hailing all the good we’ve been doing,” says Jubith, who directed the 2018 film Aabhaasam.
The music for the song is by Saji Oorali. The singer is Fadal Nazir.
The beautiful visuals are the work of artist Ashin Munnu, animated by Sanal Dev.
Watch: