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Tryst with Destiny

"Tryst with Destiny" was an English-language speech by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, to the Indian Constituent Assembly in the Parliament House, on the eve of India's Independence, towards midnight on 14 August 1947. The speech spoke on the aspects that transcended Indian history. It is considered to be one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century[1] and to be a landmark oration that captures the essence of the triumphant culmination of the Indian independence movement against British colonial rule in India. He declared the end of the colonial era and called on citizens to recognize the promise and opportunity of the moment:

His speech[2] went on to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi's efforts in the Independence Movement and called upon his countrymen to work together to


The declaration ends with an exhortation to work together in the common weal and cautions against narrow sectarian or religious divisiveness:

The speech is referenced in the 1998 Earth directed by Deepa Mehta. The film portrays the main characters listening to the speech over the radio, against the backdrop of the Hindu-Muslim riots following the Partition of India. This provides an interesting juxtaposition between the realities of Partition and the optimism that followed Independence.[3]

Hindi film

, a Hindi film by Sudhir Mishra that portrayed the political and social turbulence of the late 1960s and the '70s in India contains a clip of the speech and the narrative voice speaks of the souring of Nehru's dream within two decades of Independence.[4]

Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi

In the 2000 film directed by Kamal Haasan, parts of the speech are heard in the background providing the audience a timeline of the happenings in the movie.[5]

Hey Ram

The book by Salman Rushdie has a reference to this speech[6] as does the novel Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh.[7]

Midnight's Children

The speech is sampled by trance artist in the album One Hundred Ten WKO during the fifth track, "The Stroke of the Midnight Hour".[8]

John 00 Fleming

The musical group uses sound clips from this speech in their song "Sing Out, Shout Out" from their album Independence.[9]

Kobo Town

The film Bharat also used clips from the speech in their trailer.

Salman Khan

The film mentioned the name of the speech as a clue in the treasure hunt game.

Student of the Year

The Let's Crack It song owned by Unacademy made its intro using the actual speech voice clips.

In the aftermath of the , the indie rock band, Parikrama (Band), released a single "One" in tribute, which sampled part of the speech

2008 Mumbai Attacks

2012 Hindi film used clips from this speech in one of the shots featuring the character Shahid Khan.

Gangs of Wasseypur

Speeches about Indian independence

speech on the death of Mahatma Gandhi by Nehru

The light has gone out of our lives

Video of Nehru's "Tryst with Destiny" address

Nehru, Jawaharlal. . Modern History Sourcebook. Internet History Sourcebook Project. Retrieved 3 March 2010.

"Speech On the Granting of Indian Independence, 14 August 1947"