This Republic Day, among the spectators who lined up to watch the parade at Kartavya Path was Ayushmann Khurrana. Ayushmann, who attended the parade for the first time, says that going from watching it on TV every year as a kid to being there in person was quite an experience. Ayushmann also met several officers from the forces and shared that it was amazing to see so many women officers commanding the parade.

“It was like a childhood dream to witness the Republic Day parade live in front of my eyes. It finally happened now and it was wonderful. It was a very overwhelming experience because it is something that is etched in the memory from childhood. I have been watching the parade as a kid on Doordarshan. It used to be a holiday and we would wake up in the morning to watch it. Seeing the Armed Forces march would be inspiring and watching them parade right in front of me this time – hardly 20 feet away – was overwhelming,” he shares.

For Ayushmann, the best part of this year’s Republic Day parade was that it was women-oriented. “For the first time, the parade was heralded by 100 women artistes playing Indian musical instruments. Being a musician, I was overwhelmed. The parade had different musical instruments and not just the military musical band. It was very wholesome. I saw women from the Armed Forces taking the center stage, it was phenomenal. This year was dedicated to women, which shows the progressive stance that we as a nation are putting forward in front of the whole world. It was amazing that many women were commanding the parade. I do a lot of progressive cinema and I get really inspired by real incidents like this,” he says.

“My films like Article 15 and Anek have a deep message of inclusivity. In Article 15, I donned a uniform for the first time. As an actor, whenever one dons the uniform (of Armed forces or police) there is a sense of responsibility which also comes. We get in touch with real-life officers, imbibe their body language, imbibe their sense of responsibility and their sense of duty. I’ve met many officers and R-Day was another eye-opener when I met officers from Navy, Army, Air Force and police forces.”

Ayushmann’s first job was in Delhi, and since his mother is from Delhi most of his vacations were also spent in the city. “I have seen Delhi in every season. It has the charm of changing weather. The AQI was much better 20 years back. We never complained about pollution back then. But the city has its own charm. My favourite memory of Delhi is that when Rang De Basanti released, and my friend and I used to take gedi of India Gate and salute because that was the film that instilled the feeling of patriotism in us. I think everybody has done that and every millennial has done that when the film was released. So, for me, Delhi is India Gate. I used to cross India Gate every morning to host a radio show, and (around R-Day) I used to see all the jawans doing their drills. That was truly inspiring for me. For me, the microcosm of India is New Delhi – the capital.”