All Cinema Stars unite for a song

It always begins with a song. Michael Jackson did it to good effect and so did international stars Jamie Foxx, George Harrison and Lionel Richie; or even Alok Patki and Louis Banks’ 1988 semi-anthemic Mile Sur Mera Tumhara.

Now, music director and singer George Peter has assembled a motley crew of stars from diverse fields ranging from actors to singers, instrumentalists and sportspersons to talk about being united, focusing primarily on brotherhood and the linguistic diversity in the country. The yet-to-be-released multi-lingual song, titled One – The Unity Song, has taken off as a viral campaign on social networking sites.

Explaining his initiative, George says, “We’ve all got together and worked on it as our way of saying that we are one.” If the initial word on the song is any indication, it features film stars like Vikram, Sudeep, Mammootty, Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi, Vivek Oberoi, Zayed Khan, Asin, Karthika, Lakshmi Rai, Mamta Mohandas and Bhavana. Sport stars Saina Nehwal and Sreesanth as well as singers/instrumentalists Blaaze, Shwetha Mohan, Shankar Mahadevan, Vasundhara Das, KS Chitra, Usha Uthup, Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan and sons, K J Yesudas, Vikku Vinayakaram and Stephen Devassy also to name a few.

The mixing and mastering is currently underway at A R Rahman’s studio
in Chennai. John Thomas, of Kochi-based rock outfit Motherjane, explains that the song was recorded following one-on-one sessions with each artist involved in the project. “George went around the country, meeting the musicians and recording with them. He knew exactly what he wanted and I played,” he adds.