Wednesday, 21 October 2020 |Jaskiran Chopra| Dehradun
An Anthem of Hope Created by a Doonite
For a young Doonite, it was a childhood dream that came true when an anthem of hope conceived by him during the times of Covid gave him an opportunity to work with Amitabh Bachchan.
Yes, for Varun Prabhudayal Gupta, who hails from the Doon valley, the month of March this year brought him an idea that would lead him to his idol, Bachchan, who would give his voice in a video titled “GuzarJayega” created by Varun along with his team.
“I always wanted to work with Bachchanji, I have been a staunch fan of his but never wanted to meet him as part of a crowd,” Varun said while talking to The Pioneer during his recent visit to his home town. As soon as GuzarJayega was released in May, it became a major hit all over the world as a message of much-needed hope and comfort for troubled humanity- it has even found an entry into the Guiness Book of World Records. Varun went to Mumbai in 2011 and since then, he has created around 800 ad films and 400 music videos. He is a director, content creator and a musician, “I always wanted to create communication that would be meaningful and relevant. GuzarJayega was created as an anthem of hope and then came Zaroorat in October which features Shatrughan Sinha and Sonakshi Sinha besides many celebrities like Kiran Bedi and Sonal Mansingh”, said Varun who calls his “Project Hope” a mission.
While Guzar Jayega is based on the concept of “This too shall pass”, highlighting the strength of the human spirit to conquer the worst of times, Zaroorat is based on the concept of helping each other through this time of great crisis, lending a helping hand wherever possible.
GuzarJayega , written by Siddhant Kaushal and put to music by Jazim Sharma, featured more than a hundred artistes including Kapil Sharma, Raveena Tandon, Sonu Nigam, Jasbir Jassi, Shreya Ghoshal and Shaan. “Waqt hi toh hai, guzar jayega, Mushkil bahut hai magar waqt hi toh hai, guzar jayega,zinda rehne kay yeh jo jazba hai, phir ubhar ayega, guzar jayega, guzar jayega”. When people around the world, amid this crisis, heard Bachchan recite these words in a soothing voice and tone, it brought them hope and peace. They could believe that they would be successful in defeating this terrible time which would eventually pass as it is time’s nature to keep passing.
Varun, through Project Hope, wishes to create many more videos that will touch the hearts of people and make them once again believe in emotions they may have forgotten or ignored. “Compassion, sympathy, feeling each other’s pain and making the effort to extend a helping hand—all this needs to be felt again and messages of such communication are what the world needs more and more today”, said this director who studied here at Jaswant Modern School.
On October 18, Varun Gupta featured on the Kapil Sharma show along with Shatrughan Sinha. He is working now on an ambitious project. His videos are being praised the world across. “I realised that the problems I was facing during the lockdown were being faced by people everywhere. They needed comfort and hope at this moment.So we came up with Guzar Jayega”, said Gupta.
He said he could not do much for his mother while she was alive. “Now I feel that she must be looking down from the skies and feeling so very proud of me,” he added.
