It's amazing what the power of three can do for a film and a tour. Yes, we are talking about the Bachchan family—Amitabh, Abhishek and Aishwarya. First, their film Sarkar Raj grossed almost £400,000 in the UK. Now, their Unforgettable Tour is selling like hot cakes in America.
And when Big B fell ill, the power of three remained unchanged—Jaya Bachchan stepped in.
Hours before his first live performance in LA, Abhishek is upbeat... and why not? He is getting great response from the tour so far, is highly excited about his next release Drona, is desperate to perform in front of his audience in London and, of course, is happy that his dad is fully recovered. Excerpts from an interview:
How is Mr Bachchan?
Dad's good now. He is at rehearsals at the moment. He had a bit of a cold and I forced him to stay in bed because I didn't want it to turn into something uncontrollable. So as a son, I demanded that he stay in his room and locked him up. Dad has a tendency to push himself too much, but thankfully he is fine now.
From Toronto to Trinidad to LA. How has the journey been so far?
The journey has been awesome. The reactions have been over-whelming. We were told that every centre, which was to host the show, was pretty much sold out except for the European leg because we haven't come there yet. All this is just so wonderful because when you get on the stage and see the audiences’ reactions, you know that you are not performing for yourself but for them.
In pictures: The Bachchans off to an 'Unforgettable' start
First the Sarkar Raj collections in the UK and then this Tour—looks like London's the hot spot for the Bachchans.
London is a wonderful city and one that is very close to our hearts. We spent a lot of time there as a family during holidays. We've also done a lot of work over there and we're very glad that we're going to London in August. It is definitely going to be the biggest and the best. We're saving that for the last.
What do you do in your spare time?
Well, there isn't much spare time because of the nature of the tour. The minute you reach a new destination, you get into all the media and promotional activities. And then it's down to rehearsals. But it's also important to know that nobody is taking the tour lightly. Everybody is working very hard to put up the best show. We realise that it is a demanding schedule but the endeavour was to put up the biggest and the best show that we could possibly do and I believe we've got such a show on our hands.
Any unforgettable incident from the tour so far?
I think that was when I came on stage in Toronto for the first time. The lights came on and I just went blank. I froze because the audience was all around, trying to reach out and touch me and shouting slogans. Then my manager said, "Come on bro, you're on stage, move it". And I replied, "Wait a second. Let me enjoy this a bit more." But it was truly unforgettable. And the unforgettable moment was that I forgot everything.
Mr Bachchan on his blog stated that Trinidad is like a homecoming for you guys. When you were a five year old, you performed along side your dad on stage for the first time in Trinidad.
Dad used to do a track from his film, Mr Natwarlal, called, 'Mere paas aao mere dosto' in which he brought my sister and me on to the stage to introduce us to the audience. Now that's a good 25 to 27 years ago. So it was wonderful to go back to Trinidad and win the place in the audiences’ hearts where we had been before for such shows.
Every Bollywood actor dreams of dancing with Madhuri Dixit. Any plans?
I have plans of dancing with Madhuriji on the stage in LA tomorrow night. So the plan is working.
There are rumours that Amsterdam won’t be the last city of the tour, which was supposed to wind up on August 29. What else is up your sleeve?
Well, currently there are talks to do another show in Dusseldorf, Germany. Plus, the second leg does start post September, which will be in the Middle East, Far East and Australia, Then we move on to Africa. So the Unforgettable Tour will be continuing. The exact dates though are not confirmed yet.
Everyone is talking about Big B, Abhi and Ash on the stage together. The family is incomplete without Jayaji. Is she going to shake a leg, too?
She is on the Tour with us and she will be coming on stage to perform with us. You have to wait and see what song we perform to. Can't tell you now.
After performing some hot numbers on stage in hot locales, how do you plan to cool yourself down?
To be very honest, when you're out there in the audience, you don't think about the heat or the exertion. Their love and support just carries you through every hurdle. You can't think of cooling yourself down. On my part, the minute this tour gets over, I'll be back in Mumbai finishing my film Dostana and getting ready to release Drona, which releases on October 2.
How's the response to the Drona trailer?
It's a teaser trailer and the first look into the film. The response has been really huge. On the Drona website, www.dronathefilm.in, the response has been fantastic. Even in the kind of fan mail I'm getting. People are loving the trailer which is great because we've worked hard on it.
We've also seen couple of exclusive pictures of you, John and Priyanka from Miami while filming Dostana. Now that you're in the US, does it bring back the Dostana days?
Well yeah. I was in Miami not too long ago shooting Dostana. We transited through Miami on our way to Trinidad and Tobago. It did bring back those good days.
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