Vande Mataram is a 1997 studio album by Indian musician A. R. Rahman. It is Sony Music India's largest-selling non-film album to date. It released on 12 August 1997 by Sony's music labels Columbia Records and SME Records. The timing of the release commemorated the 50th anniversary of India's independence and has been instrumental in instilling a sense of patriotic pride and national unity amongst the people of India. Ever since release, both the album and its title song "Maa Tujhe Salaam" have had a profoundly positive and unifying impact on the nationalistic and patriotic mood of the country.