MUMBAI: Zee network will celebrate the centenary year of national song Vande Matram on 7 September, 2006, by simultaneously telecasting the Bharat Bala version of the anthem at 10 pm.

The rendition will be the network's tribute to the anthem and its own way of celebrating the pride of being an Indian. Bankim Chandra's Vande Mataram celebrates the essence of the country and symbolizes the true spirit of a nation.

Bankim Chandra Chatterji was one of the greatest novelists of India who gave the citizens of India their national song.

Vande Mataram was adopted as a slogan by the Indians fighting the British colonial rule and was also treated as the national anthem of pre independent India. But after India gained independance, Rabindranath Tagore's Jana Gana Mana, was chosen as the national anthem of independent India .following opposition from Muslim groups.