About the song:
Award winning singer and music composer, Shankar Mahadevan, has been nominated in the Honesty Oscars Awards, 2014, for his anti- corruption song, HumseHogiShurvaat, by ipaidabribe.com and Mahadevan’s online music academy. In a country which is becoming more and more infamous for its notorious activities of corruption and scams, I Paid a Bribe is an initiative by Janaagragraha, a non- profit organization from Bangalore, to harness the collective efforts of the citizens of India and the government in order to deal with the rising corruptions in the nation. While the ‘I paid a bribe’ link allows people from any part of the country to report an incident of bribery experienced by them or anyone in close proximity, the ‘I did not pay a bribe’ link encourages the honesty of a citizen. The song has been co- composed by Soumil and Siddharth, and has the voice of Shankar Mahadevan, and also includes the voices of singers, ChetanNaik, PrakritiKakar and SukritiKakar. The music video has been directed by Jay Bhansali. It has been produced by Veda Productions, with a run time of almost 4 minutes.
About Honesty Oscar:
The Honesty Oscar Awards are completely different from the Oscar Awards of Hollywood. While, in the Hollywood Oscars, recognition is given to the talented performers in different aspects in the world of cinema, the Honesty Oscars are meant to recognize the creative works by different organizations and individuals, to take a stand against corruptions. Just about a few days before the 86th Academy Awards, the nominations for the Honesty Oscars, 2014, were revealed by Accountability Lab and ONE. The campaigning and advocacy organization has revealed only 3 categories of the Honesty Oscars. These are: the best activist anthem, best activist in a leading role and best visual effects. The best activist anthem category, where Mahadevan’s song has been nominated, is to honour an original song that has been most effective in inspiring the audience members to educate themselves about the fights and protest movements against corruption around world, and encouraged them to join such movements.
The other songs nominated in the same category are: Down by the Roverside, by Camaroon’s Dr and Da Green Soljas, El Soor by Youssra El Hawary from Egypt, Sheria by the Sarabi Band from Kenya which feauresJuliani, and Pot Boiling Remix by Xpolay of Liberia, featuring Bentmantha Don, Takun J, LuckayBuckay, J. D. Donzo and Romeo Lee.
About the results:
The winners will be recognized based on the maximum number of votes received. Naturally, the software- engineer- turned- music sensation, Mahadevan, who mesmerized people with his 1998 song, Breathless, and his compositions in DilChahta Hai, has taken to the social networking site, Twitter, where he has announced the good news of his nomination and has appealed to the audience members to vote for the song.
The winner of the award will be announced on the 2nd of March, 2014. Incidentally, it coincides with the night of the 86th Oscar Award Ceremonyin the Dolby Theatres in Los Angeles.