Tickets for the gala red carpet screening of "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna" (KANK) at Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall were, as expected, sold out well in advance. But no prizes for guessing that an overwhelming majority of those inside the auditorium that Sunday afternoon were people of Indian origin.
At the press conference earlier in the day, Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar repeatedly insisted that their kind of cinema had an "Asian" audience.
But the turnout at the show belied that claim completely. Bollywood fans in the Greater Toronto area turned up not so much for the film as for a glimpse of their favourite stars. "Amitabh, Amitabh" and "Shah Rukh, Shah Rukh", they yelled deliriously.
The two megastars signed countless autographs, but it was difficult to say whether all this was helping the cause of Hindi cinema.
Where, pray, was the international audience that "KANK" was hoping to reach? This gala screening could well have been in an Andheri multiplex given the profile of the audience that it drew here.
Many in the audience had already seen the film more than once. "KANK" has been running in Scarborough and Mississauga for a while now.
The good news for Karan Johar is that, according to North American trade papers, the film has already collected upwards of $3.2 million from the box office in this part of the world, making it the biggest Bollywood overseas success ever.
Rani's absence was also felt at fest.
Some Bollywood fans here were sorely disappointed that the popular Rani Mukerji, the lead actress of "KANK", could not make it to the Toronto gala screening despite being stationed just a brief flight away in New York.
Apart from the fact that she is currently busy with the shoot of Siddharth "Hum Tum" Anand's "Ta Ra Rum Pum" on locations in and around the Big Apple, the organisers of the 31st Toronto International Film Festival revealed that a delay in rustling up a Canadian visa for her prevented Rani Mukerji from hopping over to Toronto for the gala.
As a result of the Rani no-show, there is no Bollywood diva in Toronto this year. The festival has attracted a stream of male stars though - Amitabh, Shah Rukh, John Abraham and Arshad Warsi, the last two representing the Yashraj Films-produced "Kabul Express".
The glamour quotient would surely have soared much higher if Rani or the other "KANK" lady, Preity Zinta, had been here.
Advocate Anjali Awasthi
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