Anand Mahindra plays down criticism to Beating Retreat preparation video, says jawans need to 'decompress in order to be most effective’

A rehearsal video of the annual Republic Day Beating Retreat ceremony showing the military and naval band grooving to Bollywood tunes may have triggered a political slugfest. It has also managed to warm the cockles of the hearts of business leaders like Anand Mahindra and netizens alike.

The chairman of Mahindra Group, Anand Mahindra, recently took to Twitter to defend jawans keeping their spirits high during rehearsals by dancing to the tunes of a Bollywood number and wrote that the armed forces generally operate under such tremendous pressure that they are like “springs that are most often coiled for action.”. He also added that it is important for them to relax and unwind in order to do the kind of high intensity jobs that they do.

Mahindra wrote, “Armed forces are like springs that are most often coiled for action. But they also need to decompress at times in order to be most effective. What a high to see these bravehearts have fun even while entertaining us! And a bonus is that it’s a retro song from my youth.”



The video which was posted over the weekend by the Government’s citizen engagement platform, MyGovIndia, gives a behind-the-scenes view to the kind of practice and perseverance it takes to maintain those perfect line formations and marches during the Republic Day celebration. MyGovIndia tweeted out the video saying, “What a sight! This video will definitely give you goosebumps!”

In the video, the jawans are seen keeping their spirits high by playing some old Bollywood music, and cheering and clapping in between their marching practice. Clad in their uniforms, and holding their rifles, they are seen mellow grooving to the iconic RD Burman tunes of ‘Monica, Oh My Darling!’ from the 1967 film, ‘Caravan’. There are smiles on their faces, and while some are seen recording the fun and relaxed moments during their practice session on their mobile phones, others are seen enthusiastically clapping as they dance.

Netizens seem very impressed by jawans’ show of gung ho and zeal in Delhi’s spine-chilling winter as they rehearse for the annual Beating Retreat ceremony. While one Twitter user wrote ‘We love fun. We love our army. We love our army having fun’, another chimed in and said, “I see a large number of people take umbrage to a little bit of harmless fun that the Navy Marching Contingent is having as part of their warm up for the arduous marching that they have to do. All these persons commenting don't realise that it is a behind the scenes activity.”






Going beyond political barriers, TMC’s national spokesperson, Saket Gokhale, pointed out that it isn’t just Indian marching bands, but armies across the world turn to popular music when they rehearse for their marches, and shared a video of the French military rehearsing to tunes of Daft punk’s ‘Get Lucky.’



Shiv Sena’s MP, Priyanka Chaturvedi also chimed in with Mahindra and said that she loved the enthusiasm of the jawans.



However, opposition leaders like TMC’s Mahua Moitra have managed to stir up political drama by claiming to be “sick to the stomach” on seeing jawans groove to Bollywood numbers and she isn’t alone. Youth Congress chief BV Srinivas has also slammed the video while RJD called it an “embarrassing imposition” on the Army by the Centre.

For the uninitiated, the annual Beating Retreat ceremony, which will take place in the Capital on January 29 – for which the marching bands are rehearsing – marks a centuries-old military tradition, which signifies the disengagement of troops from a battle at sunset.