Vande Mataram the novel containing it was banned by the British government, but workers and general public defied the ban, many went to colonial prisons repeatedly for singing it, and the ban was overturned by the Indians after they gained independence from the colonial rule. In 1950 (after India's independence), the first two verses of the song were declared the "national song" of the Republic of India, distinct from the national anthem of India, "Jana Gana Mana". The first two verses of the song are an abstract reference to one's mother and motherland, they do not mention any Hindu deity by name,
Amit Sharma (director) left the tutorship of Sarkar, and in 2004 he set up his own company, Chrome Pictures, with Aleya Sen and Hemant Bhandari. Later that year, he was offered an assistant role on Sarkar's film, "Parineeta", which he turned down because it clashed with his planned wedding to Sen. Between 2005 and 2015, Sharma directed over 900 advertisements, including those for Google, Coca-Cola and Amazon. In 2011, he directed an advert entitled 'The Silent National Anthem' featured deaf and mute 'singing' the Jana Gana Mana through sign language, and won a silver award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.