''Ek Anek Aur Ekta'' or "One, Many, and Unity" (also known as ''Ek Chidiya, Anek Chidiyan'' after the title song) is a
traditionally animated short educational film released by the
Films Division of India
The Films Division of India (FDI), commonly referred as Films Division, was established in 1948 following the independence of India. It was the first state film production and distribution unit, under the Ministry of Information and Broadcastin ...
(
Government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
). It was released in 1974.
It was aired on the public broadcaster channel
Doordarshan
Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest bro ...
and became very popular among children.
Summary
The film was intended to teach the value of unity and teamwork to children (Unity in Diversity). It also contains the message of how India is stronger if its citizens stand united, regardless of cultural differences. It begins with a group of children playing in a garden with one of them asking his elder sister, "Didi, yeh anek kya hota hai?", or in English, "Sis, what do you mean by Many?". The rest of the film is the sister's reply, using a
metaphorical
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared with ...
story of how a group of birds escape a bird catcher by uniting to recruit their friends, a group of mice.
The team
The film was directed by
Vijaya Mulay and
Bhimsain
Bhimsain (born Bhimsain Khurana; November 24, 1936 – April 17, 2018) was an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter and animator. He is best known as the pioneer of Indian animation, along with his mentor Ram Mohan. He was the recipient o ...
. The film's design, animation and creation was done by
Bhimsain
Bhimsain (born Bhimsain Khurana; November 24, 1936 – April 17, 2018) was an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter and animator. He is best known as the pioneer of Indian animation, along with his mentor Ram Mohan. He was the recipient o ...
.
The lyrics of ''Hind Desh ke Niwasi'' were written by Pandit
Vinay Chandra Maudgalya
Vinay Chandra Maudgalya(1918 - 1995) was an Indian classical musician, vocalist and the founder of Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, a music and dance academy for the promotion of Hindustani music and Indian classical dances. He was a follower of Gwalio ...
.
Sadhna Sargam
Sadhana Sargam (née Ghanekar, born 7 March 1969) is an Indian singer known for her playback career in Indian cinema predominantly in Hindi, Bengali, Telugu and Tamil language films. She is a recipient of the National Film Award and Filmfare Awa ...
sang ''Ek Chidiya, Anek Chidiyan''. The assistants were S.M. Hasan, Mahesh Taavre and Girish Rao. The film won the
National Film Award
The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directora ...
for
Best Educational Film., and it was the first film from the animation studios of then
Center for Education Technology. The film also wo
the Best Children's Film award in Japan The film is considered to be one of India's greatest examples of animation story-telling, and well remembered by the 80s generation as a classic illustration of ''Anekta mein Ekta''.
References
External links
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{{India Animation Industry
1974 films
Indian documentary films
1970s animated short films
Indian animated short films
1970s Hindi-language films
1974 animated films