Imagine this, you are fast asleep. It’s your day-off, it’s 9am but you still know you can sleep for another hour. And the phone rings, you can barely talk and you ask who’s this? The reply from the other side comes, Madhuri!!! Yes, it’s true. This is how I was woken up today, one of the best mornings of my life…

Well there are three days to go for the first US show and preparations are in full swing! Though it was technically our day-off, we felt this dire need to work, so the hotel was literally divided into mini-meeting rooms today. By the pool side, in the lounge, in the restaurants, one could see small groups of Wizcraft crews sitting, putting the last pieces together for the Los Angeles show..

The Unforgettable Stars took a much deserved day off. Preity left the hotel around afternoon dressed in a cool purple dress, don’t know where she went though. The four Bachchans along with Riteish went to catch a couple of movies and just before they left Abhishek told us that the new Batman flick and the musical: Mama Mia was on their agenda. Madhuri stayed in her room and rehearsed for the better part of the day with her trainer from the Shiamak troupe.

Tomorrow is an exciting day. We have couple of shoots lined-up… with Riteish, Madhuri and the Bachchans. So looking forward to that. Oh and by the way…Kevin Costner is staying in the same hotel as us!! No, I haven’t bumped into him, but totally optimistic to do so one of these days.

Anyway, its time I sign-off and catch some rest before an action-packed day tomorrow.

Bye!

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Today was another one of those days, spent juggling between aircrafts and airports…

One batch left Trinidad today at 7am to Los Angeles. Out flight was via Miami and since the transit time was almost 4 hours we decided to go check out some bits of the rocking city. So we re-checked in our bags, checked the help desk on where the nearest place to go was, got into a cab and we were off to ‘magical mile’ (that’s the name of the street) to get some food. The short drive through the city was really pleasant, the sun was glaring though but we were just happy to be out..

We walked a couple of blocks and found a nice eatery and ordered a large sumptuous meal for ourselves. By the time we finished, it was time to go back to the airport. The connecting flight was almost delayed by an hour and we reached LA around 7pm.

There was a car waiting for us at the airport taking us to this really fancy hotel where we will stay for the next 5 days and the best part is that it’s right in the heart of Hollywood. More great news??? Madhuri Dixit has joined the tour, she is staying at the same hotel here and arrived in L.A. around 8.30pm. The Bachchan family, Preity and Riteish reached the hotel at 12.30. Everyone just rushed to their rooms to catch a good nights’ rest after the long journey.

Guess I better call it a day too…

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Just when you think it can’t get bigger than this, they just take you by storm. I had barely managed to absorb the magnitude of the Toronto show, when Trinidad happened. One of the best shows I have seen…really!

 

The crowds started lining up from 3pm for a show that was scheduled to start at 7!!! I managed to get myself front row seats and had a perfect view of this spectacular extravaganza…The show began with a power-packed act by Riteish followed by a dazzler by Preity. Abhishek didn’t walk through the crowd this time but ensured that everyone in the audience was on their toes, dancing with him. Aishwarya’s performance, as usual, won loud cheers and when Amitabh Bachchan walked on stage, my heart skipped a beat once more… Not that the audience weren’t enthralled enough, Big B decided to give his Caribbean fans a double treat! After rendering few of his most famous songs, he sang a traditional Caribbean calypso song that created sheer hysteria. The stadium echoed ‘encore’ ‘encore’…really, when can Big B fans ever get enough of him???

 

The Rockstars of the evening, Vishal and Shekhar, took the energy quotient of the show to another level all together. They had theirs and everyone’s adrenaline rushing when they pumped some of their latest and biggest hits on stage…

 

This is the second show I have seen in a row, and I am still left speechless…

 

By the way, the day was quite interesting too.. The meet and greet with fans sadly did not happen but we had the Unforgettable Stars have a quick question-answer session with the local media. Intriguing questions were asked and interesting replies given. One journalist questioned Aishwarya, if Abhishek had promised her a baby? Big B was quick to respond and said, “Every husband promises his wife a child. Abhishek quickly held Ash’s hand and said, ‘I promise’. The room burst into laughter.The word ‘baby’ actually held on then throughout the day even when a journalist complimented Riteish on his impeccable timing in Heyy Baby, he said “Sajid had promised me a baby and gave me one”…more laughs followed.

 

Well you see a fun-filled morning went on to become an action-packed night. Quite a stunner!
Next destination - LA, we leave tomorrow.

Next update from the United States.

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We have reached Trinidad, the second exotic destination of the Unforgettable Tour. We left Toronto around 1.40pm and reached The Port of Spain (Trinidad) via Miami..the flight delay from Miami ensured that most of our day be spent the Airport! We had Riteish, Preity, Vishal & Shekhar with us on the flight.  The Bachchan family took a direct flight around 6pm with some other crew members….

As we were confined to the Airport, we really didn’t do much apart from non-stop chatting (yes we still had the energy to do that), grabbing ourselves small eats at the Miami Airport and preparing ourselves, mentally, for the next show!

Well tomorrow is a big day..we have a meet and greet with the fans, a press briefing and ‘the show’ all packed into one day…so its going to be another of those ‘unlimited excitement’ days.

Well its late in the night now, actually way past mid-night, so I rather sign off.  Oh by the way I forget to mention that the hotel we are at now is just GORGEOUS, one side completely over-looks the ocean.. its beautiful

Will update tomorrow on all about the Trinidad show.
Bye!

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For the first time in my life I am at a loss of words (guess the communication degree is not really helping me at this moment!) but I really had to pinch myself, that too a couple of a times, to tell myself that I have really seen the premiere show of the Unforgettable Tour LIVE, I have actually been witness to this magical, mind-blowing experience.

 

Throughout the day when I was watching Big B and Akshay rehearse their acts (Akshay only came in today in the morning) I refrained myself from imaging the grandeur of the show while it will actually be on. I know I was being superstitious but I really couldn’t help it. Practices went on till evening…entrys, exits, prop movement, costume changes were being run over repeatedly…

 

The Bachchan family had a brief ‘meet and greet’ session with the Canadian Governor of State just a few hours before the show…me who was at the venue at that moment has my anxiety levels ripping the roof! Well then the moment for which everyone had given their ‘all’ was here, a small prayer was said with the whole crew and then it was SHOWTIME!

 

I had planned to run between frontstage and backstage to be a part of all possible actions. The comrade among the stars and the endless energy and enthusiasm of the dancers of Shiamak’s troupe was really unbelievable. Abhishek was loudest to cheer backstage while Riteish grooved on-stage. Preity too joined in a bit and they rooted together for his opening act. Preity who was up next dazzled the packed-audience with her charm. The Unforgettable Dude made his entry through the audience (I pity the security guys though) and created mass hysteria, people of all shapes and sizes were jumping from all corners to be closer to him.  Aishwarya was her usual graceful self and looked stunning in her black outfit. Big B rendered a few songs and had the audiences dancing with him.

 

Vishal & Shekhar are rightly named the “Unforgettable Rockstars!… whenever there is a chance, just  go see them perform live. It’s simply superb! The energy with which they performed literally took the crowd by storm. Riteish joined them for an impromptu gig while they were singing Right Here Right Now and had audiences craving for more..

 

It became difficult for me to figure out where to station myself, I was kind of done with the running and both front and back stage were both equally exciting places to be. The next performance was Akshay’s and the crowd went berserk. They looked everywhere, to the back, to the roof, to the sides trying to guess how will Khiladi Kumar make his entry? The lights on stage went on and there he was right there in front me wearing a turban and singing ‘Sing is King’. The charmer that he is, he then called on a girl on stage (how I wished that girl would have been me) and not only did he sing for her, he also gave her some really amazing presents. (Yes, I was VERY jealous) The girls cried his name over and over again, and I joined them whole-heartedly as well on this, hoping that he would will pick us, hoping that we might get this once-in-a-lifetime chance of being on stage with none other Akshay Kumar….That didn’t not happen, though he continued to woo the crowds with his performance. He had his friends, RDB joining him on stage and together they belted out some rocking Punjabi numbers. The audiences, obviously, couldn’t get enough.

 

BIG B added more magic to the show when he rendered some of his most popular dialogues, dialogues which would have never had the same impact if not for his mesmerizing voice. He started with ‘Kabhi Kabhi mere dil me khyal aata hai’ and ended with famous dialogue from Deevar when Vijay akka Amitabh Bachchan goes to the temple to pray for his mothers’ life, not only did it leave the audiences spell-bound, it also left BIG B himself wet-eyed.

 

The show went on with more mind-blowing performances of Abhishek, Preity, Riteish, Aishwarya and Bachchan Sr. After a rocking act of all the Unforgettable Stars together, the anchor announced, “We have come to the end of the show” but the audiences still were reluctant to leave and looked like they were in a mood to stay on for a loooong time.

 

I almost ran back to share my experiences with you.

 

Tomorrow we all leave for Trinidad.

Will write to you from the Caribbean…

 

 

 

 

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Excitement, anxiety, nervousness, anticipation….and a whole lotta of other emotions were creating havoc in my heart as I was about to board the “Unforgettable” flight. With over 60 Shiamak dancers and Wizcraft crew and tons and tons of cargo piled up for take-off, thrill and exhilaration had completely jostled the air….and when Abhi-Ash walked in, colour coordinated in white-shirts and blue denims, looking as ‘love’ly as ever, with mama Bachchan and Riteish Deshmukh in tow, the excitement quotient just went soaring up….Preity Zinta took-off on another flight, on the same day, departing just a few minutes before us.

 

As I was thinking of my long journey ahead (almost 24 hours and 3 different time zones) I couldn’t help but feel happy about the fact the three Bachchans and Riteish were in the same flight as I. This happiness lasted only till London though, our pit-stop en route Toronto, as they went on another flight. Also I couldn’t stop myself from being amazed at the amount of following our stars have worldwide, right from India to London up till Toronto we had fans lined up to catch just one glimpse of their favourite stars, to touch them, to shake their hand, to take their picture….

 

The long journey with these so many thoughts came to an end in Toronto, where we loaded ourselves into a van and headed straight to our Hotel. I was lucky enough to be put in the same hotel as the stars, the remaining Wizcraft Crew and Shiamak dancers were to stay at another, right above the venue of ‘The Show’!

 

The remaining part of the day went-by before I knew. The preparations, the jet-lag consumed us totally. Next day (17^th) I woke up in a jiffy, there was a press conference scheduled in the morning half with all the ‘Unforgettable Stars’, and I so did NOT want to give that a miss.

 

At around 10.30am the stars walked into a room packed with media…the shutterbug frenzy totally reminded of India and I snapped myself out of reminiscing about home to again be pushed into a daze…c’mon I had the biggest stars of Indian Cinema right there in front of me in less than an arms distance, really aint my fault!! Abhishek looked daper in a crisp white shirt, blue denims and brown jacket while wifey Ash’s smart snug-fit denims and jacket made a whole lotta head turns (yeah, the usual!)..and just as I about to start wondering that is there any special reason for Big B to adorn his ‘Bunty aur Babli’ look, he voluntarily announced ‘British Airways has lost my bags, I am forced to wear the same piece of clothing since the past 2 days’!!

Dozens of media questions followed and the media –savvy Unforgettable Stars were at their wittiest best with the replies. When Bachchan Sr. was quizzed on how he keeps himself fit at this age ( I just fail to understand why people ask this, but never the less) pat came the reply ‘it’s the love of fans that keeps me going’…a broad smile unknowingly came across my face and the room was filled with a thunderous applause.

 

Media flurry was followed by one of the fans as the stars walked out of the media room, the fans came in leaps and bounds, just for that one-glimpse. Girls screamed for Abhishek, people made posters of Aishwarya for her to autograph on…the stars obliged and the fans rejoiced!

What gives me a really good-feeling about this tour is that the glitz and glamour aside, the tour is promoting and supporting the noble cause of ‘Lighting a Billion Lives’, an initiative by The Energy Resource of India (TERI). Not only this but whenever there is any opportunity for charity, Big B is the first to come forward. So I followed him to his visit to Canadian National Institute of Blind where he spent few thoughtful moments with the visually impaired…yes I am in awe of this fabulous person and when I see him go out of his way to make a difference in the lives of those who need it the most…my heart goes all out and my respect for him just grows unimaginably.

 

The day ahead was scheduled for rehearsals so I packed myself off to the venue to get a first hand view of the all the behind-the-scene action. The untiring energy of the dancers of the Shiamak troupe, the enthusiasm of the stars was just mind-blowing and I just know that this show is going to rock and HOW. Riteish ran through his act first, and then Preity, Abhishek and Aishwarya followed. Then there I sat and Big B came on stage, rehearsed his act a bit and I questioned myself that if this is the charisma of the man while is casually dressed in a track-pants and a sweatshirt, how amazing is he going to be on show day.

 

I had gone through so much in the day and was dying to share it with you. However much I hated, I left the rehearsals around 12 to write to you all but I know the entire entourage, the stars and dancers, were on it till 2.30 in the morning!!!

 

Well tomorrow is THE DAY and of what I saw at night, it is going to be one hell of a show…

‘ll be back tommorow with tons more from the show..bye!

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