The Aerostat,a giant helium-filled moored balloon planned as the showpiece of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games,has run into rough weather. Two key consultants hired by the Organising Committee have quit and,in a bid to cut down costs,the committee has shelved the spectacle of sending up drummers,settling instead for mannequin-like objects as replacements. Perched on the Aerostat,the drummers were supposed to rise slowly above the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium during the opening ceremony the wow factor which,officials insist,will not diminish despite the absence of live performers mid-air. The delivery of the Rs 38-crore Aerostat,being assembled in Liverpool,has already been delayed by a month. As per the original presentation to the OC by Mark Fisher,the creative engineer for the two ceremonies,the 80m x 40m Aerostat was to be tested in Liverpool before its departure for New Delhi in July. But the OC inspection team is now scheduled to fly out only next week for the Aerostat. Over the past month,the project has been hit by the exit of two consultants. The first to leave was Piers Shepperd,the project technical director who was paid $91,000 for the three months he worked in Delhi. He is said to have moved on to another assignment,probably the London Olympics. Contacted by The Indian Express,Shepperd said he could not discuss the Delhi Games due to the confidentiality clause in his contract. Lighting designer Durham Marenghi,who was to supervise lighting effects around the Aerostat,has also quit in somewhat dramatic circumstances. OC CEO Jarnail Singh received complaints that Marenghi was backing a European firm which had bid for a stage lighting contract and had been in direct correspondence with a competing firm which had given a bid for almost half the price. He was asked for an explanation in writing and his services were terminated. Marenghi told The Indian Express that he was seeking legal advice on the termination of his contract. Jarnail Singh,however,maintained that the exit of the two consultants was not much of a setback since replacements had been easily found. Our chief international adviser for the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the Aerostat project is Ric Birch who helped pick all other foreign consultants, Singh said. The fact is that no Indian company or consortium could provide us a spectacular showpiece like the one we have ordered. It is for the first time in the world that such a large helium balloon will be used for a sporting event. The decision on whether the Aerostat should be filled and be afloat when the opening ceremony starts or should rise gradually,as per the original plan,has still not been taken. Officials recalled that during one discussion,Shepperd had said it would be safer to keep the Aerostat raised to the required height and buoyancy in advance. The idea of the Aerostat project,cleared by the Organising Committee,was first floated in January 2010 during a workshop of creative heads including Bharat Bala,Prasoon Joshi,Shyam Benegal,Javed Akhtar and Ric Birch. Birch and Indian consultant Wizcraft International Entertainment Ltd suggested that the only firm which could execute the project within the limited time on hand was K Events of Italy. There are other elements to the project: Flying rigging equipment and scenic flying: Rs 1.73 crore and Rs 1.25 crore UK-based firm Stage One has been hired for flying rigging equipment and scenic flying. The firm has worked with theatre productions including The Phantom of the Opera. Aerostat skirt decoration: Rs 11.25 lakh The concept of art work on the skirt is to Indianise the Aerostat. An OC official said the initial suggestion was to have the lotus motif,a symbol of Indian art,culture and architecture,at regular intervals. But the idea was rejected once it was pointed out that the lotus was the election symbol of the main Opposition party,the official said. Video projection on Aerostat: Rs 3.80 crore for video content and Rs 12 lakh for video projection The elliptical structure will serve as a huge screen,visible to all spectators. A two-and-half-hour-long film will be projected on to the sides of the Aerostat. This film will show bits of what is happening live on the ground and will also have montages of the Queens Baton Relay and postcard images of India.
