Republic Day parade in Delhi: Full dress rehearsal held at Kartavya Path

New Delhi: Nearly 2,500 artistes, set to perform at the Kartavya Path in Delhi during the 77th Republic Day parade, took part in a full dress rehearsal of their segment on Saturday, January 24, officials said.

Besides, a rehearsal for the flypast event, a key attraction of the January 26 ceremony, was also held, they said.

A total of 29 aircrafts – 16 fighter jets, including Rafale, Su-30 MKI, and Jaguar, four transport aircraft, including C-295, and nine helicopters will be part of the two-phase flypast at the Republic Day parade, with a total of eight formations, a senior Air Force official had said earlier.

While a dress rehearsal of the ceremonial parade was held a day ago, the flypast and some sections of the cultural performance could not be held due to inclement weather.

The main theme of the parade is ‘150 years of Vande Mataram‘, and will span around 90 minutes.

“A group of artists will herald the parade, which was part of the rehearsal held on Friday, but the grand show, with nearly 2,500 artistes representing different dance forms of India, could not held. So, full dress rehearsal for that section was held on Saturday, as it will be a major attraction on January 26,” a senior official said.

On Friday, January 23, armed forces personnel and artistes took part in the full dress rehearsal, marching down the Kartavya Path amid morning rain, which briefly delayed the proceedings at the ceremonial boulevard.

The broader theme of the performance is ‘Swatantra Ka Mantra – Vande Mataram’ and ‘Samriddhi Ka Mantra – Viksit Bharat’, officials said.

The members of the creative team that has worked on it include MM Keeravani as music director, Subhash Sehgal as lyricist, Anupam Kher as narrator, and Santosh Nair as choreographer, under the supervision and direction of Sandhya Purecha. Creative design and costumes has been conceptualised by Sandhya Raman, they said.