Bhubaneswar: The much awaited men’s hockey World Cup is barely seven days away and the city is already gearing up to host a galaxy of stars for its gala opening ceremony at the iconic Kalinga Stadium here November 27, a day before the tournament kicks off.
According to Vishal Dev, secretary of department of sports and youth services, government of Odisha, no other hockey World Cup has hosted such a big opening ceremony and this one is going to present a memorable experience to all.
While, AR Rahman, the voice behind the theme song ‘Jai Hind’ will perform live, it will also see king of bollywood Shah Rukh Khan to grace the occasion apart from ever elegant Madhuri Dixit.
According to the organisers, the main act of the ceremony, called as ‘Earth Song’ will be centred on Madhuri, which will showcase a multitude of dance variations as well as Indian forms such as Odissi and Sattriya. She will be supported by approximately 1,100 performers out of which around 800 are students of KISS.
Shah Rukh, meanwhile, will present India’s ‘collected hearts’ – the culmination of the publicity campaign called Heart beats for Hockey – to all the 16 participating captains. Besides local actors Sabyasachi Mishra and Archita Sahu are also expected to play some part in the opening ceremony.
The organisers also informed that two big stages have been made – one is for the dancers to perform while AR Rahman will be performing in the other one. The whole ceremony will be streaming live on Star Sports channels and Doordarshan and all the regional channels in the state.
The tickets for the opening ceremony of the men’s HWC Nov 27 and WC Celebrations the next day at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack were sold out in just a few hours after going live online, Tuesday. However, in view of high public demand, the organisers have made provision to provide more tickets for the Cuttack event, Nov 28