Mumbai’s Marine Drive wasn’t just a promenade on Wednesday night; it was a stage in the sky. Hundreds of drones rose over the Arabian Sea, their lights weaving portraits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and spelling out a glowing “Happy Birthday” to mark his 75th. The dazzling show turned the city’s coastline into a canvas of light, even as tributes lit up iconic landmarks from London’s Piccadilly Circus to New York’s Times Square.
Marine Drive Drone Show Lights Up Mumbai For Modi’s 75th Birthday
Mumbai’s Marine drive lit up yesterday night as the drones formed PM Narendra Modi’s portrait in the sky wishing him on his birthday. pic.twitter.com/rjdXjoaSLO
— 💝🌹💖🇮🇳jaggirmRanbir🇮🇳💖🌹💝 (@jaggirm) September 18, 2025
At the drone show at Mumbai’s Marine Drive, people along the seaface clapped, cheered, and pulled out their phones; and within minutes, the formations had flooded social media feeds, as proof of how technology can turn a celebration into something unmissable.
And the party didn’t stop with the drones. Across the city, landmarks joined in. The Trident hotel and the Air India building beamed with giant projections of Modi’s image, while the Bandra-Worli Sea Link shimmered in the tricolour, its cables doubling as a screen for birthday greetings.
Together, the mix of light, architecture, and spectacle gave Mumbai a festival-like glow.
Pune And London Host Birthday Celebrations
As part of the celebrations, in Mumbai, several landmarks, including the five-star hotel Trident, held light displays featuring images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. pic.twitter.com/RvrwY4szwp
— Anmol (@anmol_kaundilya) September 17, 2025
If the coast dazzled, Pune matched it with scale and how! At the SP College Ground, the city staged Maharashtra’s biggest-ever drone show: nearly 1,000 drones moving in sync for a 45-minute performance called Jyotine Tejachi Aarti.
This wasn’t just about birthday wishes; the show folded in tributes to Pune’s reformers, slices of its cultural legacy, and nods to the Modi government’s flagship achievements. Singer-composer Avadhoot Gupte brought a live soundtrack, switching between crowd-pleasing hits and stirring patriotic numbers, adding a musical pulse to the futuristic ballet above.
The tributes stretched well beyond India’s borders. In London, the giant screens at Piccadilly Circus lit up with Modi’s face and the message: “Warm birthday wishes, celebrating 75 years.” New York’s Times Square, never short of neon, added him to its iconic visual cacophony, with birthday greetings flashing between advertisements. Both locations drew crowds of Indians abroad who stopped to watch, snap pictures, and share in the moment.
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What linked it all, from the sea breeze of Marine Drive, a cricket ground in Pune, and New York’s busiest square, was a conscious blend of honour and technology. The drone art carried cultural references as much as political ones. The illuminated monuments leaned on symbolism as much as celebration. And the international tributes showed that for Modi’s 75th, the canvas wasn’t just national, but captured an international sentiment.
Cover Image Courtesy: jaggirm/X
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