BENGALURU: Following prolonged discussion, the state government is now working on trimming the state anthem’s duration to 2.40 minutes. Kannada and Culture Minister V Sunil Kumar told TNIE the proposal is before Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and the final decision will be announced within 15 days.
Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the electric vehicle charging portal in the city on Thursday, Kumar said the opinions and recommendations by the two committees of Ananthaswamy and C Vishwanath are similar -- the anthem will be completed in 2.40 mins. The matter has been discussed at length, he said.
Reacting to this, president of Kannada Development Authority, T S Nagabharna told TNIE that they did not mind if verses were removed. However it was not required because if the repetitions and the tunes are removed, the duration will be reduced below 2.30 minutes. He also added that there is no need to sing the anthem fast to avoid spoiling the ragas.
Nagarbharna also said the authority has been running an experiment on its website asking people to sing the Nada Geethe. People have been able to complete the anthem within 2.30 minutes. Earlier, authority members and some experts had also recommended the anthem be reduced to 2.10- 2.15 mins and it was accepted by many.