MUMBAI: With just few hours left for the final day of Ganesh Visarjan day, everyone is in the state of celebration as the mandals prepare of visarjan of their dear Bappa. While we know, dhol tashas form an inseparable part of Ganpati Visarjan processions, this group from Mumbai had made a fantabulous cover that had a mix of the famous Game of Thrones tune. Prabuddh Dyma, who had not only conceptualised the idea, but also directed this video, takes us through the making of this Indian desi version of the popular web-series that was made for Gapanti Visarjan, back in 2014.

Speaking about the idea, Prabuddh Dyma said, “Back in 2014, the Game of Thrones tune was a rage as its season three was a hit. There were a lot of covers made, including metal, bass, funky etc. But, I wanted to create a desi version of Game of Thrones while using Indian instruments. I knew that there is a certain dhol tasha beat that completely blends with the Game of Throne tune.”

 “Hence, on the seventh day of Ganesh festival, I told this concept to my friend Vidit Chitroda, who has his own music setup and production house.  Though it was late, we arranged the musical part and got people on board on that very day, while the video was shot on the eight day. Vidhit contact with an array of people helped,” he further added.

On the recording of this cover, Prabuddh told, “The entire track was recorded and mixed in a studio. But, it was difficult to record in a town studio as we wanted the rawness of the dhol music in it. Our main concern was to get the music right. We, thus, spent a good amount of time in creating the track as the idea was to create a cover and not a funny gag. Keyur Barve, Kushal Bhabra and Omkar arranged the music for us.”

When asked about how the shooting happened, “We got a dhol group on board and discussed with them on how to go about playing these unique mix beats. They did pretty well. We also gathered good crowd to dance on the tunes.”

We found an eco-friendly Ganpati, did his stapana, prior to commencing the Visarjan ceremony as we wanted to give the real feel of a Ganpati Visarjan ceremonyand not uses props. But, since it was the eight day, which is not a visarjan day, our only fear we had was to save ourselves from police as we were also shooting. Police did ask us but we convinced them that it is some Shanika Ganpati, whose visarjan happens on eighth day only. Luckily, they believed us. Also, the visarjan happened without any interference.”

Well, though there have been many covers been made, the Game of Thrones Mumbai Dhol Tasha Cover’ aka Aamcha Game of Thrones stands out for blending two popular tunes of Nashik dol and Game of Thrones for Ganpati Visarjan. The video, which was an ELTC initiative by Prabudhh Dyma, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Vidit Chitroda and Gautmik was picked up by major portals. The video has garnered over two million views on YouTube.

Watch the video here:

We hope, this three-year-old, yet unique video, is still running during Ganesh Visarjan ceremony, which marks the farewell to Lord Ganesh. Wishing everyone a Happy Ganesh Chaturthi.