Deeply honoured to represent Indian cinema at the Republic Day Parade: Sanjay Leela Bhansali

New Delhi: Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who collaborated with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for a special tableau themed ‘Bharat Katha: Shruti, Kriti, Drishti’ for the Republic Day Parade, felt deeply honoured to represent Indian cinema and the creator community at the event.

The tableau made its way down Kartavya Path during the Republic Day parade on Monday, highlighting the continuity between India’s civilisational wisdom and contemporary creative innovation, reflecting how heritage and technology together shape national identity.

“I felt deeply honoured to represent Indian cinema and the creator community at the Republic Day Parade under the theme ‘Bharat Gatha’. Co-creating this tableau with the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting was a tribute to India’s timeless stories and the power of cinema to retell them. It reflects the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji’s vision of taking Indian storytelling to the world and celebrating cinema as one of India’s strongest cultural voices,” Bhansali said.

The tableau opened with the cosmic resonance of Aum, symbolising the origin of sound, knowledge and creation. The first segment, ‘Shruti’, depicted India’s rich oral traditions through a Guru imparting wisdom to disciples under a Peepal tree, with flowing sound-wave motifs illustrating the transmission of knowledge through the spoken word.

‘Kriti’, the second segment, marked the transition from oral to written expression, featuring Lord Ganesha inscribing the Mahabharata, symbolising sacred authorship and the preservation of knowledge.

The final segment, ‘Drishti’, showcased India’s modern media landscape, featuring vintage cameras, film reels, satellite symbols, newspapers and box-office imagery that highlighted the evolution of cinema, broadcasting and print media.

Figures of filmmakers and artists honoured creative pioneers, while digital elements such as Artificial Intelligence, Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics-Extended Reality (AVGC-XR) and virtual production technologies reflected India's shift to immersive, next-generation storytelling.

Bhansali is one of the most celebrated Indian storytellers in the Indian cinema landscape with larger-than-life movies such as ‘Khamoshi’, ‘Devdas’, ‘Black’, ‘Bajirao Mastani’, ‘Padmaavat’ and OTT series ‘Heeramandi’.