List of Bollywood films of 2011

January

Release Date	Film-Title	Star-Cast	Genre
Jan 7	Impatient Vivek	Vivek Sudarshan, Sayali Bhagat	Comedy, Romance
Jan 7	No One Killed Jessica	Vidya Balan, Rani Mukherjee	Social, Thriller
Jan 7	Vikalp	Deepal Shaw, Alok Nath, Chetan Pandit	Thriller
Jan 14	Mumbai Mast Kallander	Shilpa Shukla, Rajesh Vivek, Rajendra Sethi	Comedy
Jan 14	Turning 30!!!	Purab Kohli, Gul Panag, Siddharth Makkar, Tillotama Shome	Comedy
Jan 14	Yamla Pagla Deewana	Sunny Deol, Dharmendra, Bobby Deol, Kulraj Randhawa, Paresh Rawal	Comedy
Jan 21	Dhobi Ghat	Prateik Babbar, Aamir Khan, Monica Dogra, Kriti Malhotra	Social
Jan 21	Hostel	Vatsal Sheth, Tulip Joshi, Mukesh Tiwari	Social
Jan 28	Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji	Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi, Omi Vaidya, Amisha Patel, Tisca Chopra, Shruti Haasan	Romance, Comedy

February

Release Date	Film-Title	Star-Cast	Director	Genre
Feb 4	United Six	Parvathy Omanakuttan, Daisy Bopanna, Luna Lahkar	Vishal Aryan Singh	Action, Thriller
Feb 4	Utt Pataang	Vinay Pathak, Mahie Gill, Saurabh Shukla, Mona Singh	Srikanth.V Velagaleti	Comedy, Thriller
Feb 4	Yeh Saali Zindagi	Arunoday Singh, Chitrangda Singh, Irrfan Khan, Aditi Rao Hydari	Sudhir Mishra	Thriller, Romance
Feb 11	Aashiqui.in	Ishan Manhas, Ankita , Tiya, Dheeraj	Shankhadeep	Comedy, Romance
Feb 11	Angel	Nilesh Sahay, Maddalsa Sharma, Aruna Irani, Manoj Joshi	Ganesh Acharya	Drama
Feb 11	Patiala House	Akshay Kumar, Anushka Sharma, Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia	Nikhil Advani	Drama
Feb 14	Tum Hi To Ho	Vipinno, Madhavi Sharma, Vivek Shauq	Sanjay Goel	Romance, Drama
Feb 18	7 Khoon Maaf	Priyanka Chopra, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Naseruddin Shah, John Abraham, Irrfan Khan	Vishal Bhardwaj	Black Comedy
Feb 18	Kaccha Limboo	Taheer Sutarwala, Vinay Pathak, Sarika, Rukhsar	Sagar Ballary	Children
Feb 18	Masti Express	Rajpal Yadav, Johny Lever, Divya Dutta	Vikram Pradhan	Comedy
Feb 25	Satrangee Parachute	Siddhartha Sanghani, Rajvi Suchak, Jackie Shroff, Kay Kay Menon	Vineet Khetrapal	Children
Feb 25	Tanu Weds Manu	R Madhavan, Kangna Ranaut, Jimmy Sheirgill	Anand Rai	Romance, Comedy

March

Release Date	Film-Title	Star-Cast	Director	Genre
Mar 4	Yeh Faasley	Anupam Kher, Pawan Malhotra, Tena Desae, Rushad Rana	Yogesh Mittal	Drama
Mar 25	Happy Husbands	Anay, Kurush Deboo, Gaurav Ghai	Anay	Comedy
Mar 25	Monica	Divya Dutta, Ashutosh Rana, Dadhi Pandey	Sushen Bhatnagar	Drama

April

Release Date	Film-Title	Star-Cast	Director	Genre
Apr 1	F.A.L.T.U	Jackky Bhagnani, Pooja Gupta, Arshad Warsi, Riteish Deshmukh	Remo D'Souza	Comedy
Apr 1	Game	Abhishek Bachchan, Sarah Jane Dias, Kangana Ranaut, Jimmy Sheirgill	Abhinay Deo	Thriller
Apr 1	Memories in March	Deepti Naval, Rituparno Ghosh, Raima Sen	Sanjoy Nag	Drama
Apr 8	Thank You	Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Sunil Shetty, Celina Jaitly	Anees Bazmee	Comedy, Romance
Apr 15	Teen Thay Bhai	Om Puri, Shreyas Talpade, Deepak Dobriyal	Mrigdeep Singh Lamba	Comedy
Apr 22	Dum Maaro Dum	Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, Aditya Pancholi, Prateik Babbar	Rohan Sippy	Thriller
Apr 22	Zokkomon	Darsheel Safary, Anupam Kher, Manjari Fadnis	Satyajit Bhatkal	Children
Apr 28	Shor In The City	Tusshar Kapoor, Preeti Desai, Alok Chaturvedi, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Radhika Apte	Raj Nidimoru, Krishna Dk	Thriller
Apr 29	Chalo Dilli	Vinay Pathak, Lara Dutta	Shashant Shah	Comedy
Apr 29	I Am	Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala, Rahul Bose, Nandita Das, Arjun Mathur	Onir	Social
Apr 29	Men Will Be Men	Gaurav Chopra, Zeenal Kamdar, Rajesh Kumar, Rohit Khurana	Gorky	Comedy
Apr 29	Naughty @ 40	Govinda, Uvika Chaudhary	Jagmohan Mundhra	Comedy
Apr 29	Queens! Destiny of Dance	Seema Biswas, Vineeth, Laxmi Narayan Tripathi	David Atkins	Musical

May

Release Date	Film-Title	Star-Cast	Director	Genre
May 6	Haunted - 3D	Mimoh Chakraborty, Twinkle Bajpai	Vikram Bhatt	Horror
May 6	Luv Ka The End	Shraddha Kapoor	Bumpy	Comedy, Romance
May 12	Ragini MMS	Raj Kumar Yadav, Kainaz Motivala	Pawan Kripalani	Thriller, Horror
May 13	Love U... Mr. Kalakaar!	Tusshar Kapoor, Amrita Rao	S. Manasvi	Romance
May 13	Shagird	Nana Patekar, Anurag Kashyap, Mohit Alawat	Tigmanshu Dhulia	Action, Crime
May 13	Stanley Ka Dabba	Partho Numaan, Divya Dutta, Divya Jagdal, Raj Zutshi, Aditya Lakhia	Amol Gupte	Social, Children
May 20	404	Nishikant Kamat, Tisca Chopra, Imaad Shah	Prawaal Raman	Thriller
May 20	Kashmakash	Riya Sen, Raima Sen, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Jishu Sengupta	Rituparno Ghosh	Drama, Period
May 20	Me Mamu & 7	Gulshan Grover, Amit Hotchandani, Prachi Dalal, Shiva	Amit Chauhan	Comedy
May 20	Pyaar Ka Punchnama	Kartik, Rayo ,Divyendu, Nushrat, Sonalli, Ishita	Luv Ranjan	Comedy
May 27	College Campus	Ashraf Khan, Ram Nitu Chaudari, Khushee Sharma	Atul	Drama
May 27	Kucch Luv Jaisaa	Rahul Bose, Shifaali Shah, Neetu Chandra	Barnali Ray Shukla	Romantic, Comedy

June

Release Date	Film-Title	Star-Cast	Director	Genre
June 3	A Strange Love Story	Riya Sen, Eddie Seth, Ashutosh Rana	Tarique Khan, Sahil Seth	Drama, Thriller
June 3	Ready	Salman Khan, Asin	Anees Bazmee	Comedy
June 10	Love Express	Sahil Mehta, Vikas Katyal, Mannat Ravi	Sunny Bhambani	Comedy, Romance
June 10	Shaitan	Kalki Koechlin, Shiv Pandit, Rajeev Khandelwal	Bijoy Nambiar	Thriller
June 17	Always Kabhi Kabhi	Ali Fazal, Giselle Monteiro, Zoa Morani	Roshan Abbas	Romance
June 17	Bheja Fry 2	Vinay Pathak, Minissha Lamba, Amol Gupte, Kay Kay Menon	Sagar Ballary	Comedy
June 17	Bhindi Baazaar Inc	Vedita Pratap Singh, Deepti Naval, Pawan Malhotra	Ankush Bhatt	Thriller, Drama
June 17	Bin Bulaye Baarati	Aftab Shivdasani, Priyanka Kothari, Om Puri	Chandrakant Singh	Comedy, Action
June 17	Cycle Kick	Tom Alter, K. P. Nishan Nanaiah, Sunny Hinduja	Shashi Silgudia	Drama
June 17	My Husband's Wife	Rati Agnihotri, Shakti Kapoor, Aroon Bakshi	Vinod Chhabra	Drama
June 24	Double Dhamaal	Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Riteish Deshmukh, Mallika Sherawat, Kangna Ranaut	Indra Kumar	Comedy

July

Release Date	Film-Title	Star-Cast	Director	Genre
July 1	Bbuddah - Hoga Terra Baap	Amitabh Bachchan, Raveena Tandon, Hema Malini, Minissha Lamba	Poori Jagannath	Action
July 1	Delhi Belly	Imran Khan, Shenaz Treasuryvala, Rahul Pendkalkar, Vir Das	Abhinay Deo	Comedy
July 8	Chillar Party	Irrfan Khan, Sanath Menon, Rohan Grover, Naman Jain	Vikas Bahl, Nitesh Tiwari	Children
July 8	Murder 2	Emraan Hashmi, Jacqueline Fernandez	Mohit Suri	Thriller
July 15	Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara	Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Abhay Deol, Katrina Kaif, Kalki Koechlin	Zoya Akhtar	Romance
July 22	Singham	Ajay Devgn, Kajal Aggarwal, Prakash Raj	Rohit Shetty	Action
July 29	Bubble Gum	Sohail Lakhani, Apurva Arora, Sachin Khedekar	Sanjivan Lal	Drama
July 29	Gandhi To Hitler	Neha Dhupia, Raghuveer Yadav, Aman Verma	Rakesh Ranjan	Biographical
July 29	Khap	Om Puri, Govind Namdeo, Manoj Pahwa, Uvika Chaudhary	Ajai Sinha	Social

August

Release Date	Film-Title	Star-Cast	Director	Genre
Aug 5	Chala Mussaddi - Office Office	Pankaj Kapoor, Deven Bhojani, Manoj Pahwa, Sanjay Mishra	Rajiv Mehra	Comedy
Aug 5	I Am Kalam	Gulshan Grover, Pitobash Tripathy, Harsh Mayar	Nila Madhab Panda	Children
Aug 5	Warning	Jannat Zubair Rahmani, Atul Kulkarni, Rituparna Sengupta, Anupam Kher	Karan Razdan	Horror
Aug 12	Aarakshan	Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Manoj Bajpayee, Deepika Padukone, Prateik Babbar	Prakash Jha	Social
Aug 12	Phhir	Rajneesh Duggal, Adah Sharma, Roshni Chopra	Girish Dhamija	Romance, Thriller
Aug 19	Chatur Singh Two Star	Sanjay Dutt, Ameesha Patel, Suresh Menon	Ajay Chandok	Action, Comedy
Aug 19	Not A Love Story	Mahie Gill, Deepak Dobriyal, Ajay Gehi	Ram Gopal Varma	Crime, Thriller
Aug 19	Sahi Dhandhe Galat Bande	Vansh Bhardwaj, Tina Desai, Anupam Kher, Kiran Juneja	Parvin Dabbas	Action, Comedy
Aug 26	Chitkabrey - Shades of Grey	Ravi Kissen, Rahul Singh, Rajesh Shringapure, Sanjay Swaraj	Suneet Arora	Social
Aug 26	Shabri	Eesha Koppikhar, Manish Wadhwan, Pradeep Rawat	Lalit Marathe	Crime, Action
Aug 26	Stand By	Adinath Kothare, Siddharth Kher, Sachin Khedekar	Sanjay Surkar	Sports
Aug 26	Yeh Dooriyan	Deepshikha, Kaishav Arora, Ayub Khan	Deepshikha	Romance
Aug 31	Bodyguard	Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor	Siddique Lal	Action, Romance
Aug 31	Bol	Humaima Malick, Atif Aslam, Iman Ali	Shoaib Mansoor	Drama, Social
Aug 31	Mummy Punjabi	Kirron Kher, Jackie Shroff, Divya Dutta	Pammi Somal	Comedy

September

Release Date	Film-Title	Star-Cast	Director	Genre
Sep 2	That Girl In Yellow Boots	Kalki Koechlin, Naseruddin Shah, Shiv Subramaniyam	Anurag Kashyap	Thriller
Sep 9	Mere Brother Ki Dulhan	Imran Khan, Katrina Kaif, Ali Zafar	Ali Abbas Zafar	Romance
Sep 16	Rivaaz	Deepti Naval, Reema Lagoo, Meghna Naidu, Alok Nath	Ashok Nanda	Social
Sep 16	The Blueberry Hunt	Naseruddin Shah, Vipin Sharma, Vinay Kumar	Anup Kurian	Thriller
Sep 23	Mausam	Shahid Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Anupam Kher	Pankaj Kapoor	Romance
Sep 23	Speedy Singhs	Vinay Virmani, Russell Peters, Anupam Kher	Robert Lieberman	Drama
Sep 23	U R My Jaan	Mikaal, Preeti, Himani Shivpuri, Rajesh Khera	Aron Govil	Romance
Sep 30	Chargesheet	Dev Anand, Jackie Shroff, Riya Sen, Divya Dutta	Dev Anand	Drama
Sep 30	Force	John Abraham, Genelia Dsouza	Nishikant Kamat	Action, Romance
Sep 30	Hum Tum Shabana	Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Minissha Lamba	Sagar Ballary	Comedy, Romance
Sep 30	Na Jaane Kabse	Garry Gill, Amrita Prakash, Sharat Saxena	Pammi Somal	Romance
Sep 30	Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster	Jimmy Sheirgill, Mahie Gill, Randeep Hooda	Tigmanshu Dhulia	Action, Thriller
Sep 30	Tere Mere Phere	Vinay Pathak, Riya Sen	Deepa Sahi	Comedy, Romance

October

Release Date	Film-Title	Star-Cast	Director	Genre
Oct 6	Rascals	Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt, Kangna Ranaut, Arjun Rampal	David Dhawan	Comedy, Action
Oct 7	Love Breakups Zindagi	Zayed Khan, Dia Mirza, Cyrus Sahukar, Tisca Chopra	Sahil Sangha	Drama, Romance
Oct 7	Soundtrack	Rajeev Khandelwal, Soha Ali Khan, Mrinalini Sharma	Neeraj Ghosh	Musical
Oct 14	Aazaan	Sachiin Joshi, Dalip Tahil, Candice Boucher, Arya Babbar	Prashant Chadha	Action
Oct 14	Jo Dooba So Paar	Vinay Pathak, Anand Tiwari, Rajat Kapoor	Praveen Kumar	Comedy
Oct 14	Mod	Rannvijay Singh, Ayesha Takia Azmi	Nagesh Kukunoor	Drama
Oct 14	Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge	Saqib Saleem, Saba Azad, Nishant Dahiya, Tara D'Souza	Nupur Ashtana	Comedy, Romance
Oct 14	My Friend Pinto	Prateik Babbar, Kalki Koechlin, Manisha Koirala, Naseruddin Shah	Raghav Dar	Romance
Oct 21	Be-Careful	Rajneesh Duggall, Tanisha Mukherjee, Rajpal Yadav	Chandrakant Singh	Drama
Oct 26	Ra.One	Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Shahana Goswami	Anubhav Sinha	Sci-Fi
Oct 27	Damadamm!	Himesh Reshammiya, Sonal Sehgal, Purbi Joshi	Swapna Waghmare	Comedy, Romance
Oct 27	Tell Me O Kkhuda	Esha Deol, Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, Arjan Bajwa	Hema Malini, Mayur Puri	Drama

November

Release Date	Film-Title	Star-Cast	Director	Genre
Nov 4	Loot	Govinda, Mahaakshay Chakraborty, Hansika Motwani, Shweta Bhardwaj	Rajneesh Thakur	Comedy
Nov 4	Miley Naa Miley Hum	Chirag Paswan, Kangna Ranaut, Kabir Bedi	Tanveer Khan	Romance
Nov 4	Na Jaane Kabse..	Garry Gill, Amrita Prakash, Sharat Saxena	Pammi Somal	Social, Romance
Nov 4	Tension Doooor	Swaraaj Singh, Swati Anand, Sambhavna Sheth	Ambrish Singal	Drama
Nov 11	Rockstar	Ranbir Kapoor, Nargis Fakhri	Imtiaz Ali	Drama, Romance
Nov 18	Shakal Pe Mat Ja	Shubh, Pratik Katare, Saurabh Shukla, Raghuveer Yadav	Shubh	Comedy
Nov 25	Dam 999	Aashish Vidyarthi, Linda Arsenio, Rajit Kapoor	Sohan Roy	Sci-Fi
Nov 25	Desi Boyz	Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Deepika Padukone, Chitrangada Singh	Rohit Dhawan	Action, Comedy

December

Release Date	Film-Title	Star-Cast	Director	Genre
Dec 2	The Dirty Picture	Vidya Balan, Naseruddin Shah, Emraan Hashmi, Tusshar Kapoor	Milan Luthria	Drama
Dec 9	Ladies v/s Ricky Bahl	Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, Parineeta Chopra, Dipannita Sharma	Maneesh Sharma	Romance, Comedy
Dec 9	Lanka	Manoj Bajpayee, Arjan Bajwa, Tia Bajpai	Maqbool Khan	Drama
Dec 9	Ye Stupid Pyar	Jatin Khurana, Noopur Patwardhan	Rakesh Jain	Romance
Dec 16	Faraar	Akbar Khan, Kanan Malhotra, Shikha Chitambekar	Santosh Gupta	Action
Dec 16	Jo Hum Chahein	Sunny Gill, Simran Kaur Mundi	Pawan Gill	Romance
Dec 16	Pappu Can't Dance Saala	Vinay Pathak, Neha Dhupia, Rajat Kapoor, Naseruddin Shah	Saurabh Shukla	Comedy, Romance
Dec 23	Don 2	Shahrukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta, Boman Irani	Farhan Akhtar	Thriller, Action
Dec 30	Kya Yahi Sach Hai	Ashok Beniwal, Bobby Vats, Nilesh Malhotra	Y.P. Singh	Drama

*Green  - I have Seen

Wishing Everyone Happy Republic Day of INDIA

The Republic Day of India commemorates the date on which the Constitution of India came into force replacing the Government of India Act 1935 as the governing document of India on 26 January 1948. instead, its laws were based on the modified colonial Government of India Act 1935, and the country was a Dominion, with George VI as head of state and Earl Mountbatten Governor General. On 28 August 1947, the Drafting Committee was appointed to draft a permanent constitution, with Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar as chairman. While India's Independence Day celebrates its freedom from British Rule, the Republic Day celebrates the coming into force of its constitution.

A draft constitution was prepared by the committee and submitted to the Assembly on 4 November 1947. The Assembly met, in sessions open to public, for 166 days, spread over a period of 2 years, 11 months and 18 days before adopting the Constitution. After many deliberations and some modifications, the 308 members of the Assembly signed two hand-written copies of the document (one each in Hindi and English) on 24 January 1950. Two days later, the Constitution of India became the law of all the Indian lands. The Constitution of Indiawas passed on 26 November 1949, 10.18 AM IST, but it came into effect completely only on 26 January 1950. Following elections on 21 January 1950, Rajendra Prasad was elected as the president of India. The Indian National Congress and other parties had been celebrating 26 January as a symbol of Independence, even before India actually became independent. Thus, applying the constitution on 26 January, to mark and respect 26 January and the freedom struggle and the freedom fighters.

The 26th of January was chosen to honour the memory of the declaration of independence of 1930. It is one of the three national holidays in India. While the main parade takes place in the national capital New Delhi at the Rajpath before the president, the anniversary is also celebrated with varying degrees of formality in state capitals and other centres.

Republic Day is one of the three national holidays of India and the greatest festival celebrated in the country. It is celebrated every year on January 26, in New Delhi with great pomp, fanfare and pageant. While in the capitals of the States and other headquarters, it is marked with patriotic fervor. The most spectacular celebrations are marked by the Republic Day Parade that takes place in the capital of New Delhi at Rajpath. It includes march past of the three armed forces, massive parades, folk dances by tribal folk from different states in picturesque costumes marking the cultural unity of India. Further, the streak of jet planes of Indian Air Force, leaving a trial of colored smoke, marks the end of the festival. 

It was the Lahore Session of the Indian National Congress at midnight of December 31, 1929 - January 1, 1930, that the Tri-Color Flag was unfurled by the nationalists and a pledge was taken that on January 26 every year, "Republic Day" would be celebrated and that the people would unceasingly strive for the establishment of a Sovereign Democratic Republic India. The professed pledge was successfully redeemed on January 26, 1950, when the Constitution of India framed by the Constituent Assembly of India came into force, although the Independence from the British rule was already achieved on August 15, 1947. It is because of this fact that August 15 is celebrated as Independence Day, while January 26 as Republic Day.

The Republic Day celebrations of India have rightly become world famous as one of the greatest shows on earth drawing thousands of eager sight-seers from all over the country and many parts of the world as well. No other country can draw on such a wealth of tribal traditions and cultures, with so many regional forms of dances and dress. And, no other country in the world can parade so many ethnically different people in splendid uniforms, all united in their proven loyalty to the Government elected by the people and in their proud traditions and legendary gallantry.

The amending mechanism was lauded even at the time of introduction by Ambedkar in the following words: "We can therefore safely say that the Indian federation will not suffer from the faults of rigidity or legalism. Its distinguished feature is that it is a flexible federation.

"The three mechanisms of the system derived by the Assembly, contrary to the predictions, have made the constitution flexible at the same time protected the rights of the states. They have worked better than the amending process in any other country where Federalism and the British Parliamentary system jointly formed the basis of the constitution."

What Sir Anthony Eden, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (April 1955 to January 1957), said at the time of the emergence of Indian Republic is relevant in this context. He said, "Of all the experiments in government, which have been attempted since the beginning of time, I believe that the Indian venture into parliamentary government is the most exciting. A vast subcontinent is attempting to apply to its tens and thousands of millions a system of free democracy... It is a brave thing to try to do so. The Indian venture is not a pale imitation of our practice at home, but a magnified and multiplied reproduction on a scale we have never dreamt of. If it succeeds, its influence on Asia is incalculable for good. Whatever the outcome we must honour those who attempt it."

Even more meaningful was the opinion expressed by an American Constitutional authority, Granville Austin, who wrote that what the Indian Constituent Assembly began was "perhaps the greatest political venture since that originated in Philadelphia in 1787."

Austin has also described the Indian Constitution as 'first and foremost a social document.' ... "The majority of India's constitutional provisions are either directly arrived at furthering the aim of social revolution or attempt to foster this revolution by establishing conditions necessary for its achievement."

CELEBRATIONS

The different regiments of the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force march past in all their finery and official decorations. The President of India who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Armed Forces, takes the salute. Floats exhibiting the cultures of the various states and regions of India are in the grand parade, which is broadcast nationwide on television and radio. Also part of the parade are children who win the National Bravery Award for the year. The parade also includes other vibrant displays and floats and traditionally ends with a flypast by Indian Air Force jets.To mark the importance of the occasion, every year a grand parade is held in the capital, New Delhi, from the Raisina Hill near the Rashtrapati Bhavan (President's Palace), along the Rajpath, past India Gate . Prior to its commencement, the Prime Minister lays a floral wreath at the Amar Jawan Jyoti, a memorial to unknown soldiers at the India Gate at one end of Rajpath, which is followed by two minutes silence in the memory of unknown soldiers. Thereafter he reaches the main dais at Rajpath to join other dignitaries, subsequently the President arrives along with the chief guest of the occasion. First he unfurls the National flag, as the National Anthem is played, and a 21-gun salute is given. Next, important awards like the Ashok Chakra and Kirti Chakra are given away by the President, before the regiments of Armed Forces start their march past.

Celebrations are also held in state capitals, where the Governor of the state unfurls the national flag. If the Governor of the state is unwell, or is unavailable for some reason, the Chief Minister of the state assumes the honour of unfurling the National Flag of India.

Today, the Republic Day is celebrated with much enthusiasm all over the country and especially in the capital, New Delhi where the celebrations start with the Presidential address to the nation. The beginning of the occasion is always a solemn reminder of the sacrifice of the martyrs who died for the country in the freedom movement and the succeeding wars for the defence of sovereignty of their country. Then, the President comes forward to award the medals of bravery to the people from the armed forces for their exceptional courage in the field and also the civilians, who have distinguished themselves by their different acts of valour in different situations.

To mark the importance of this occasion, every year a grand parade is held in the capital, from the Rajghat, along the Vijaypath. The different regiments of the army, the Navy and the Air force march past in all their finery and official decorations even the horses of the cavalry are attractively caparisoned to suit the occasion. The crème of N. C. C. cadets, selected from all over the country consider it an honour to participate in this event, as do the school children from various schools in the capital. They spend many days preparing for the event and no expense is spared to see that every detail is taken care of, from their practice for the drills, the essential props and their uniforms.

The parade is followed by a pageant of spectacular displays from the different states of the country. These moving exhibits depict scenes of activities of people in those states and the music and songs of that particular state accompany each display. Each display brings out the diversity and richness of the culture of India and the whole show lends a festive air to the occasion. The parade and the ensuing pageantry is telecast by the National Television and is watched by millions of viewers in every corner of the country.

The patriotic fervor of the people on this day brings the whole country together even in her essential diversity. Every part of the country is represented in occasion, which makes the Republic Day the most popular of all the national holidays of India.

BEATING RETREAT

The Chief Guest of the function is the President of India who arrives escorted by the 'President's Bodyguards' (PBG), a cavalry unit. When the President arrives, the PBG commander asks the unit to give the National Salute, which is followed by the playing of the Indian National Anthem,Jana Gana Mana, by the Massed Bands, and at the same time by the unfurling of the Flag of India on the flagpole. The ceremony was started in the early 1950s when Major Roberts of the Indian Army developed the ceremony of display by the massed bands in which Military Bands, Pipes and Drums Bands, Buglers and Trumpeters from various Army Regiments besides bands Navy and Air Force take part which play popular tunes like Abide With Me, Mahatma Gandhi's favourite Hymn, and Saare Jahan Se Achcha at the end.The Beating Retreat ceremony officially denotes the end of Republic Day festivities. It is conducted on the evening of January 29, the third day after the Republic Day. It is performed by the bands of the three wings of the military, the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force. The venue is Raisina Hills and an adjacent square, Vijay Chowk, flanked by the north and south block of the Rashtrapati Bhavan (President's Palace) towards the end of Rajpath.

CHIEF GUEST

Since 1950, India has been hosting head of state or government of another country as the state guest of honour for Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi. During 1950-1954, Republic Day celebrations were organized at different venues (like Irwin Stadium, Kingsway, Red Fort and Ramlila Grounds). It was only starting 1955 when the parade in its present form was organized at Rajpath. The guest country is chosen after a deliberation of strategic, economic and political interests. During 1950s-1970s, a number of NAM and Eastern Bloc countries were hosted by India. In the post-Cold War era, India has also invited several Western leaders on a state visit during the Republic Day. It is notable that before India fought wars with China and Pakistan, leaders from these countries were invited as state guests for the Republic Day celebrations. Interestingly, Pakistan Food and Agriculture Minister was the second state guest from that country for Republic Day in 1965, a few days after which the two countries went to a war. Countries which have been invited multiple times include India's neighbours (Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Mauritius), defence allies (Russia/USSR, France and Britain), trade partners (Brazil) and NAM allies (Nigeria, Indonesia and erstwhile Yugoslavia). France has the distinction of being the guest of honour for the maximum (four) number of times followed by three visits each from Bhutan, Mauritius and USSR/Russia.

Courtesy From - cool-collections-cool.blogspot.com/republic-day-of-india-and-indian-flag.html and festivals.iloveindia.com/republic-day