Bollywood sets out to conquer the world -- with song and dance
Fans OF Bollywood music and cinema will get a hefty dose of the stuff when The Unforgettable Tour -- reportedly the largest Bollywood live entertainment show ever to have left India -- lands at the Los Angeles Sports Arena this weekend.
Two years in the planning, and blighted early on as major Bollywood names dropped in and out of the cast, the tour kicked off last Friday in Toronto, starting a five-month-long traveling extravaganza that will have performed in 18 countries over six continents by the time it’s done.
The heart of the show is Amitabh Bachchan, a veteran of Hindi cinema and one of the most recognizable men on the Indian subcontinent. He will be accompanied on stage by his son -- leading man Abhishek -- and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, the former Miss World who is Bollywood’s reigning screen queen. (Both the younger Bachchans are inevitably crossing over to Hollywood; Rai Bachchan stars alongside Steve Martin in next year’s Pink Panther sequel, while her husband recently collaborated on a song with Wyclef Jean.)
But for the time being, it’s going to be all about The Unforgettable Tour.
“In terms of content, production, star names attached to it and the planning that’s gone behind it, what we’ll see on stage is something that’s never been seen out of Bollywood,” says Manoj Kaytee, a co-founder of Super Entertainment Inc., the promoter of the Los Angeles event.
Accompanied by a cluster of other Bollywood stars, the trio will sing and dance their way through the 3 1/2 -hour show, performing musical numbers from their most recent, as well as more classic, movies.
The lavish stage show will feature fireworks, countless extravagant costume changes and jazzy lighting and sets. Some 48 dancers have been flown in from India, along with 16 musicians and more than 80 technicians bringing with them about 3 tons of equipment.
According to a spokeswoman for the creators of the show, Mumbai-based Wizcraft, each performance will cost about $1 million to stage.
“We’ve had an amazing response,” says Kaytee, who adds that, based on initial sales, he expects the 13,000-seat venue to sell out. In addition to members of the South Asian community, ticket buyers have included Brazilians, Russians, Iranians and Armenians.
“Anybody who is familiar with Bollywood knows that it’s a big deal for the Bachchans to be appearing together,” he adds.
The core cast will be joined by various other Bollywood superstars along the way, among them popular names and award-winners such as Madhuri Dixit, Preity Zinta and Akshay Kumar.
“As it progresses from country to country, they will be adding different names to the existing list,” Kaytee explains. In Los Angeles, the guest star will be Dixit, widely regarded as one of Bollywood cinema’s most accomplished dancers, who will be performing a dance scene with Rai Bachchan from the hit movie “Devdas.”
As for the extra-long duration of the show -- about the running time of an average Bollywood film -- Kaytee says it’s all about value.
“If people are coming out and spending money, we need to make it really worth it,” he says.
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THE UNFORGETTABLE TOUR
WHERE: Los Angeles Sports Arena, 3939 S. Figueroa St., L.A.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Sat.
PRICE: $59 to $250
INFO: (213) 747-7111; theunforgettabletour.com
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