it definitely is one of the most beautiful and soul-stirring nationalistic compostions ever. people say there is beauty in the austrian anthem and god save the queen. i dont know. but vande mataram stirs me... the pristine beauty and the heartfelt depth of bankim chandra's lyrics is too moving to explain in words, it makes me proud to be an indian, jana gana mana is inane in comparsion, (who's the adhinayak and bharat bhagya vidhaata in question)
lata's rendition of our national song in ananda math is beautiful and i believe the music is by hemant kumar.
