250 drones dazzle in air at India Gate to celebrate Netaji's legacy

A swarm of drones lit up the night sky over India Gate complex on Friday showcasing the life and legacy of freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose and celebrating the newly-unveiled grand statue of Netaji, a senior official said.

The drones took to air in phases and made eight different formations.

"A total of 250 drones will be used, and the last formation will be of the new grand statue unveiled by the Prime Minister on Thursday. The drone show will depict the life and legacy of Netaji," the senior official of Culture Ministry told PTI shortly before the show began.

The show started around 8.35 pm and lasted for 10 minutes. People tried to capture the moments on their mobile phone cameras, some moved around while many lay on the lawns to enjoy it.

Earlier, as dusk fell over the skyline of Central Vista, a team of engineers and technicians were busy hooking up the connection in a grid of drones that was assembled in a lawn near the India Gate.

"The Netaji drone show was done by the same team of innovators which had run the 1,000-drone show at the Beating the Retreat ceremony early this year, over the Vijay Chowk," the official said.

The 28-ft-tall statue was carved out of a monolith block of jet black granite stone, sourced from a quarry in Telangana and a "makeshift road" had to be built to move it to a highway for transporting it to Delhi.

A team of sculptors spent 26,000 man hours of "intense artistic endeavour" to carve the grand statue of Bose, according to the Ministry of Culture.