With a slight chill in the air and fairy lights illuminating the grounds, the Embassy of Sweden hosted the Sweden Day Reception in the run-up to Diwali on Wednesday.
Ambassador of Sweden Jan Thesleff and actor Elli AvrRam (Photo: Manoj Verma/HT)
It was a blend of cultures: a fusion of gol gappas and classic Swedish meatballs, with desi music like “Mundian To Bach Ke” meeting the iconic Swedish sounds of ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!”, and attendees dressed in festive Indian attire, even donned flower crowns, echoing the Midsummer celebrations in Sweden. It was truly a double celebration.
Jan Thesleff, ambassador of Sweden, warmly welcomed the guests with ‘Shubh Diwali’ wishes, and introduced actor Elli AvrRam, who has strong Swedish roots as she was born there, joined him on stage. He also added a fun personal note to his speech, sharing: “Someone asked me for my dream- I want to be in a Bollywood movie!… People very often mistake Sweden for Switzerland, and we would like people to do that more often and come to Sweden instead!”
Elli spoke about the growing Indo-Swedish cinematic connection: “It’s time to introduce Indian cinema to Swedish. [There is] a certain perception of it’s only dancing, but there are other genres which are meaningful and beautiful. There could be more film festivals. More films can be shot there.”
The highlight of the evening was an electric performance by Afghan-born Swedish pop artiste and dancer, Meira Omar, whose hits had the audience grooving.