CWG opening ceremony pre-show a glittering affair

NEW DELHI - Colourfully dressed dancers jived to foot-tapping music, songs were rehearsed and people cheered across the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here - complete with the sound of vuvuzelas - at Sunday’s pre-show of the opening ceremony of the 19th Commonwealth Games.

Music composer Anand Raj Anand, who seemed to have won hearts at the rehearsals itself, said: “It’s a privilege to perform here.”

Singer Shibani Kashyap got the crowd on their feet with some of her most well-known renditions like “Sajana”.

While the spectators had to be seated much before the opening ceremony, no one seemed to mind the wait.

The blue seats of the circular stadium were slowly occupied by spectators with smiling faces, cheering as the cameras focused on them and they appeared on the large LCD screens on two sides.

Laptops dotted an entire side of the stadium and hundreds of media professionals, including foreign journalists, and photographers were seated there.

The centre of the stadium had 20 large drums encircling it with larger than life puppets seated in some - giving an idea of the performance yet to unfold.

While music maestro A.R. Rahman was not there in person during the rehearsals, a pre-recorded video of the track ‘Bulaliya’ - the Commonwealth Games theme song - was played on the screens.