Amry kid Rakul Preet Singh: Watching Republic Day parade on TV with family was a ritual

For actor Rakul Preet Singh, Republic Day comes with a lot of emotions and nostalgia as it takes her back to the time when she watched the parade on television with her family. She is proud to accept that we, as a country, understand the meaning of celebrating the day in its true essence.

“Whenever it has anything to do with any patriotic event or day, I feel very proud. I’m actually a hardcore patriotic person coming from an army background,” says Rakul as she poses at the India Gate exclusively for HT City.

Being at India Gate makes her walk down memory lane and recall the time she watched the parade live on TV, and how watching it on television every year became a tradition at her place.

“We used to watch the parade every year, even if we didn’t go to watch the live parade, we used to watch it on TV. That used to be a thing at home that every Republic we would watch the parade and celebrate India,” says the actor, adding that she has watched the parade live only once.

“I was four or five when I went to watch the parade live. I was too young,” she is quick to mention when asked about the memories from watching the parade live.

Even now, the actor, who hails from Delhi, whose father served in the Indian Army, tries to find time from her busy schedule to watch the parade on TV.

“Whenever I can, I watch it. If I’m not working, then I watch it for sure,” says the actor, who was in Delhi to promote her web film, Chhatriwali.

Opening up about the importance of Republic Day in her life, the actor shares, “I truly hope that the Republic Day is about understanding our constitutional rights. We should understand what rights are, whether it’s the right to speech to freedom to the right to existence. That’s why I think our film (Chhatriwali) in some way gives a voice to the women and gives them a right of choice. I am a patriotic person, and I feel that we as a country truly understand the meaning of celebrating Republic Day.”

Here, the Doctor G actor admits that her upbringing with the Army background shaped her life. She says, “It is the only thing that has shaped me as the person that I am today. There’s a certain sense of dignity, discipline that comes in with the Army upbringing. You are a very independent, headstrong person and I owe that to the Army upbringing.”

Rakul wraps up with a message as she says, “Let’s all be responsible citizens and love our country. We should work towards making it an even better space to be in and respect, and just spread love”.