Posted:
Filmicafe.com
Thousands of Torontonians are counting down the days until the arrival of the Royal Family in Toronto. Not the one from Windsor Castle; rather the First Family of Indian cinema.
Patriarch Amitabh Bachchan with his silver beard, deep-set eyes and tiger's-purr voice, is a draw in his own right; his popularity with fans verges on veneration. But for the first time he's touring in concert with his son Abhishek Bachchan and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, best known to North American audiences for her L'Oreal Paris endorsements and her English language films such as Bride and Prejudice, Mistress of Spices (with Dylan McDermott) and The Last Legion (with Colin Firth).
Add A-list stars Preity Zinta, Madhuri Dixit, Akshay Kumar and Ritesh Deshmukh, and The Unforgettable Tour represents one of the biggest live stage shows ever to come out of the Hindi film world.
Just don't call it Bollywood, cautions Abhishek Bachchan, sounding remarkably fresh and gracious at 2:30 a. m., Mumbai time, after a day shooting his current film, Dostana ( Friendship), costar-ring John Abraham( Water). "Most of us don't acknowledge the term," he says. "It was coined by a journalist to divide the Indian film industry, and we feel that it is in very bad taste. We're an industry unto ourselves; we're the largest film industry in the world, we sell the largest number of tickets in the world and we don't feel we should be known by a name from another film industry."
The Unforgettable Tour opens in Toronto on Friday, then visits major North American cities before hitting the rest of the world. Toronto's pride of place on the schedule is due in no small measure to the Bachchan family's affection for the city, cemented by a big fan turnout when Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna ( Never Say Goodbye), starring both Bachchan men, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2006.
But the big moment came later for Abhishek Bachchan. Unable to attend the TIFF premiere, his first public event here was the January, 2007, world premiere of Guru at the Elgin Theatre. He arrived with Rai to find Yonge Street packed with a crowd of more than 1,000 fans, many of whom had stood outside for hours waiting for the couple to arrive. "I think 'surprised' would be too mild a word to describe what Aishwarya and I were feeling when we saw the entire street cordoned off and fans screaming and standing in that bitter cold. We were really moved to tears after seeing that sight," he says.
"The toughest part was when we got out and waved to the fans. We were told that they had been standing there for hours in biting cold, and we wanted to go across the street and greet people and sign some autographs. But the security was not equipped to deal with that, so we were not allowed to do it." Riding "very much on the tide of that emotion," he proposed to Rai the very next day, setting the stage for India's celebrity wedding of the year.
For Hollywood fans, it may seem strange that top film stars also do music tours. However, the younger Bachchan says, "That goes back to our culture. The Indian culture is very musical and celebratory. We have a song for every emotion and every moment in our lives, and that is echoed in our films as well."
Long-time fans will be treated to favourite numbers from films of recent and older vintage. "This is my first-ever road tour, so I have all my 35-odd films to choose from," Bachchan says. There will be some selections from his father's hits of the '70s. ("It's going to be very unfair to the audience to ignore that period in his life and the wonderful songs he had at that time.") He also guarantees some songs from Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, likely including the bouncy Rock 'n' Roll Soniye and Where's the Party Tonight, which both have some English lyrics.
In fact, Bachchan promises that audience members don't need to understand Hindi at all or even know the films to have fun. "That's the beauty of it: You don't need to know anything. Just come there and have a wonderful time," he says. "One thing I do guarantee is that once you see the show you will become a fan of Indian cinema and you will want to know more about it." - The Unforgettable Tour hits the Rogers Centre on Friday (unforgettabletourcanada.com).Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.
Thousands of Torontonians are counting down the days until the arrival of the Royal Family in Toronto. Not the one from Windsor Castle; rather the First Family of Indian cinema.
Patriarch Amitabh Bachchan with his silver beard, deep-set eyes and tiger's-purr voice, is a draw in his own right; his popularity with fans verges on veneration. But for the first time he's touring in concert with his son Abhishek Bachchan and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, best known to North American audiences for her L'Oreal Paris endorsements and her English language films such as Bride and Prejudice, Mistress of Spices (with Dylan McDermott) and The Last Legion (with Colin Firth).
Add A-list stars Preity Zinta, Madhuri Dixit, Akshay Kumar and Ritesh Deshmukh, and The Unforgettable Tour represents one of the biggest live stage shows ever to come out of the Hindi film world.
Just don't call it Bollywood, cautions Abhishek Bachchan, sounding remarkably fresh and gracious at 2:30 a. m., Mumbai time, after a day shooting his current film, Dostana ( Friendship), costar-ring John Abraham( Water). "Most of us don't acknowledge the term," he says. "It was coined by a journalist to divide the Indian film industry, and we feel that it is in very bad taste. We're an industry unto ourselves; we're the largest film industry in the world, we sell the largest number of tickets in the world and we don't feel we should be known by a name from another film industry."
The Unforgettable Tour opens in Toronto on Friday, then visits major North American cities before hitting the rest of the world. Toronto's pride of place on the schedule is due in no small measure to the Bachchan family's affection for the city, cemented by a big fan turnout when Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna ( Never Say Goodbye), starring both Bachchan men, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2006.
But the big moment came later for Abhishek Bachchan. Unable to attend the TIFF premiere, his first public event here was the January, 2007, world premiere of Guru at the Elgin Theatre. He arrived with Rai to find Yonge Street packed with a crowd of more than 1,000 fans, many of whom had stood outside for hours waiting for the couple to arrive. "I think 'surprised' would be too mild a word to describe what Aishwarya and I were feeling when we saw the entire street cordoned off and fans screaming and standing in that bitter cold. We were really moved to tears after seeing that sight," he says.
"The toughest part was when we got out and waved to the fans. We were told that they had been standing there for hours in biting cold, and we wanted to go across the street and greet people and sign some autographs. But the security was not equipped to deal with that, so we were not allowed to do it." Riding "very much on the tide of that emotion," he proposed to Rai the very next day, setting the stage for India's celebrity wedding of the year.
For Hollywood fans, it may seem strange that top film stars also do music tours. However, the younger Bachchan says, "That goes back to our culture. The Indian culture is very musical and celebratory. We have a song for every emotion and every moment in our lives, and that is echoed in our films as well."
Long-time fans will be treated to favourite numbers from films of recent and older vintage. "This is my first-ever road tour, so I have all my 35-odd films to choose from," Bachchan says. There will be some selections from his father's hits of the '70s. ("It's going to be very unfair to the audience to ignore that period in his life and the wonderful songs he had at that time.") He also guarantees some songs from Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, likely including the bouncy Rock 'n' Roll Soniye and Where's the Party Tonight, which both have some English lyrics.
In fact, Bachchan promises that audience members don't need to understand Hindi at all or even know the films to have fun. "That's the beauty of it: You don't need to know anything. Just come there and have a wonderful time," he says. "One thing I do guarantee is that once you see the show you will become a fan of Indian cinema and you will want to know more about it." - The Unforgettable Tour hits the Rogers Centre on Friday (unforgettabletourcanada.com).Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.
Anupamaa
4