- India
- International
It’s an exclusive guest list of the country’s topmost glitterati from the fields of arts, movies, sports and politics who will greet the Obamas at their first dinner in India, hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday evening.
Around 250 guests are expected. Apart from political heavyweights, including Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, they include Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, A R Rahman, Gulzar, Priyanka Chopra and Sachin Tendulkar. The e-mailed invitations underline the exclusivity of the event: they don’t extend to the spouses of the guests. The invitees are expected to arrive by 7.45 pm, and the dinner, for which the new, bigger ceremonial hall has been readied, will be served at 8.45 pm. The invite requested guests to RSVP indicating their food preference, veg or non-veg, and responses have been received.
The dinner will be a carefully designed spread of select Indian delicacies from North and South Indian cuisine. Galauti Kababs and the Gujarati kadhi will be included as will be sondesh and paan.
The President’s banquet will also feature a one-hour cultural programme by the renowned dance troupe Seher of the Ananya festival fame. Five dance gurus — Madhavi Mudgal (Odissi), Prerna Shrimali (Kathak), Geeta Chandran (Bharatanatyam), Rajendra Pillai (Kathakali) and Charu Sija Mathur (Manipuri) — along with 30 dancers will present a 25-minute-long concert at the Rastrapati Bhawan auditorium.
“It’s a great way to showcase the rootedness of the art form in all its purity. Mostly Indian music abroad is represented as fusion. This will probably be one of Obama’s few brushes with the colours and the diversity of the Indian dance styles in their full glory,” said Sanjeev Bhargav, the founder of Seher.
He admitted he was relieved that the concert is taking place at the auditorium and not during the dinner. “Normally, these are just by-the-way performances held during state dinners when everyone is seated at the round tables and sometimes not really paying attention. This is a dedicated slot in an auditorium where the US President will just witness this concert,” said Bhargav.
Rehearsals have been on at the Rashtrapati Bhawan premises for 25 days now. Mudgal, also a Padma Shri, is leading the choreography. The concert will open with an invocation from the Rig Veda, followed by short presentations in each style, ending with a rhythm-heavy finale.
Unlike Obama’s 2010 visit, when Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao was in constant touch with those incharge, including in selecting the playlist, Bhargav has been given a free hand this time.