Independence Day: AIR to broadcast APJ Abdul Kalam's last interview today

From the tale of unsung heroes who fought for India's independence to what has been claimed to be the last byte by former President AJP Abdul Kalam to any media entity, public broadcasters All-India Radio and Doordarshan have lined up these and other shows as part of their offering on August 15.

AIR will broadcast what it has claimed was the last conversation the late Dr Kalam had with any media house for its English feature on India's space mission, entitled 'Moon, Mars and Beyond -- A Space Odyssey'. The byte was recorded on July 16 and it was his last conversation with any media house, AIR claimed.

"On August 15, we are going to run this special byte at 2:30 pm on the Rajdhani and FM Rainbow channels," officials said. Besides its live coverage of the official Independence Day event, AIR is also going to rerun a special feature from its English archive, While the World Slept, on the events that unfolded on the intervening night of August 14-15, 1947. The feature will run at 9:30 pm. on the Rajdhani and FM Rainbow channels on August 15.

As for Doordarshan, it has planned to start with a period drama based on the story of a path-breaking newspaper Ranbheri, which not only played a significant role in the freedom struggle in the 1940s but had also joined the different voices of the freedom fighters. The one-hour show, scheduled to run on August 15 at 8 pm, not only tries to tell the story of unsung heroes of our freedom struggle, but also shows how the media had played a major role during the independence struggle. Doordarshan, meanwhile, said it has also planned the launch of several other programmes later this month.