NEW DELHI: With a high-powered guest invited, the NDA government is leaving no stone unturned to make this Republic Day parade a memorable one.
US President Barrack Obama will be the chief guest at the Parade and such is the pressure to make the event showcasing India’s military might glitch-free that the Defence Ministry is giving the parade a face-lift. Besides focusing on the displays, the ceremonial division of the defence ministry is working to make the commentary of the parade more polished and ‘flawless.’
The ceremonial division of the Ministry, which co-ordinates with all the stake holders of the Parade, is currently hunting for a fresh voice for English as well Hindi commentary. Though the primary focus will be to make the English commentary more impressive, the Hindi voice-over is also being given serious thought, as this is going to be the first parade for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Officials from the ceremonial division say selection of four commentators, two each for English and Hindi, is still underway. From last year’s list of commentators, which include Sandhya Sharma and Rajshree Trivedi for Hindi and Wing Commander Sujata Tiwari and Colonel Anil Nayar for English, the ministry has also invited five new shortlisted candidates for auditions.
“This year we intend to include a male voice for Hindi and a new female voice for English commentary as well as the citation of gallantry awards. We want this year’s commentary to be more polished and impressive,” said a senior ministry official. A source said a flight lieutenant of the Indian Air Force has been chosen by the selection panel as the female English commentator.
Officials involved in the selection told The Sunday Standard that process is in its last leg. In the past, there have been instances where the commentators fumbled while pronouncing names and designations of the participating contingent.
“Fumbling and mispronunciation does happen while speaking name and rank of the officials. But this time, we want to minimise it by giving enough time to the commentators to practice,” an official said. Two years ago, a commentator who was the wife of a top defence ministry official had created a ruckus in the commentary box on the day of full dress rehearsal. She insisted on reading the full commentary and asked the other female commentator, who had been rehearsing it for over a month time, to leave.
Besides commentary, the defence ministry is also making extra seating arrangements for about 100-odd foreign journalists, who are expected to come with US President for the Republic Day celebrations.