The London Office of the Guinness Book of World Record has given its final approval to all the preparations and arrangements made by the District Kullu Dussehra Committee for the attempt of the largest folk dance in the world. With this Kullu Natti is all set to enter the Guinness Book of World Record as the Largest Folk Dance in the World. This was disclosed here today by Rakesh Kanwar, Deputy Commissioner Kullu.He said that the folk dance was dedicated to the theme of Girl Child and the participants will take a pledge to work for the cause of the girl child.“More than 13,000 participants- both women and men- have registered for the dance. They will be coming to Dhalpur grounds on 26 October dressed in traditional attire to make this world record and to showcase the rich cultural heritage of Kullu”, the Deputy Commissioner Kullu informed here today. He added, “Since there is no prior category or record related to the folk dance, any number of participation will create the record, but our aim is to make a record that is difficult to break.”
He said that the Guinness Book of World Record had very strict norms for any attempt to create a world record. They had asked for detailed ground plan, entry and exit points, enumeration of participants, video recording of the event and still photography. The norms require every single participant to carry/wear a bar-coded ticket that will be read by computerized software to ensure accurate registration of each and every participant. Further, as per the requirement, KPMG, an independent reputed international audit firm has been engaged to audit the attempt. More than 20 cameras including drone cameras will be deployed to take aerial shots which need to be sent as evidence to Guinness authorities. All the participants, stewards and volunteers will get a certificate once the formal approval from Guinness Book of World Records will be received.
A team of more than 350 stewards will supervise groups of 50 dancers each and will certify their participation. In addition hundreds of volunteers will be providing their services to the participants.He further said that Mascot of Pride of Kullu, a girl in traditional dress, designed by Gitesh Gupta a designer from Kullu, has already been launched. District Dussehra Committee will now launch merchandise to promote the cause of the girl child on this occasion. Mugs, fridge magnets, stickers for the notebooks of the students and t-shirts will be available with the mascot of the event. The merchandise will be on sale during Dussehra. Already advance booking has started for these items through the Facebook page of Pride of Kullu.More than 60 buses will run on over 120 routes to bring the participants to the venue and these will be providing free service. There will proper arrangement for the participants as water; food packets and emergency care will be available in the Rath Ground. Duty magistrates, police officers and large number of lady police and home guards will be deployed to make this event secure for the women.The Deputy Commissioner Kullu thanked the officers and staff of the Integrated Child Development Programme (ICDS) especially the Anganwadi Workers, Helpers and schools for registering the participants and for being the torch bearers of this event. With this attempt not only Kullu Natti but local dress, jewellery and folk songs and music will be recognized on the world stage.