Film music has served as a vehicle of national integration in post-independence India. Discuss with reference to the contributions of playback artists.

Independent India had many languages and fresh wounds from Partition. It needed shared feelings as well as shared institutions. Film songs, sung by playback artists and heard through cinema and radio, gave people those feelings. The State saw cinema in the same way: the National Film Awards (1954) aim to promote the "unity and integrity of the nation" [6].

How playback artists helped unite India

• Patriotic feeling: In 1963, after the 1962 war, Lata Mangeshkar sang Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon (lyrics by Kavi Pradeep, music by C. Ramachandra). It moved PM Nehru to tears and turned a military defeat into a shared memory of sacrifice [1].
• A bridge between languages: Singers worked in more than one language's cinema. Lata sang first in Marathi (Kiti Hasaal, at 13) and then in Hindi (Aap Ki Sewa Mein, 1946) [2]. Hindi film songs carried a common everyday language into non-Hindi regions.
• A common soundtrack: One voice heard across generations and regions gave people a shared memory. When she died, the nation gave her a state funeral and observed two days of national mourning [3]. Ayodhya, far from her Marathi roots, named a chowk after her [4].
• Wider social space: A woman first turned down for a "thin voice" became the industry's leading singer [1]. Film music was open to talent from outside the elite.
• Recognition by the State and abroad: She received the Bharat Ratna (2001) and was made an Officer of the French Legion of Honour [2]. The award named after her honours "nation building" [5], directly linking art with national purpose.

Limitations

• Hindi dominance: The reach of Hindi film songs can overshadow regional music traditions. In some states this has fed a feeling that one culture is being imposed on others.
• Recognition is unequal: The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 created performer's rights. It also made it compulsory to announce the names of principal performers when a work is broadcast [7]. PRS noted that its special royalty protection covers only authors of work in films and sound recordings, and so treats different types of authors unequally [8]. Chorus singers and session musicians get little of this recognition.
• A partial fix: In 2018, India decided to join the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT). The treaty protects singers and musicians, including online [9].

In short, playback artists made film music a shared emotional language for India, across wars, languages and generations. Two steps would strengthen this role: giving credit and royalties to every performer, as WPPT intends, and promoting regional film music alongside Hindi. This would fulfil the Article 51A(f) duty to value India's composite culture and advance the vision of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.