It was the end of their magnificent and indeed unforgettable tour. The sell-out crowd of the O2 Arena in London was behind them, so the Bachchans decided to give themselves a bit of quality leisure time by going to watch Abhi’s favourite football team Chelsea, take on their old rivals Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs) in a local derby at the fantastic Stamford Bridge Stadium.
Chelsea, officially the Blues, are known to the London crowd as Chelski since they were bought out by oil mogul and Siberian governor, Roman Abramovich. The Bachchans were able to see the game from Abramovich’s private box. “We went to watch the Chelsea team play a football match, and we had a great time,” said Abhishek. “I had been to the Chelsea matches several times. But it was the first time for Pa. And I was excited both by the thought of attending my favourite’s team match and by the fact that my dad was so excited. We had ourselves a ball.” Aishwarya also went but this was really an outing for the fantastic father-and-son pairing.
Meanwhile, the Bachchans have been attacked once again by Raj Thackeray and the extreme MNS party. At a recent function to launch Abhishek’s new movie Drona with Priyanka Chopra, Jaya Bachchan, his mother, gave a speech in the national language Hindi instead of the local language Marathi. Hindi is also the language of the Bachchan’s state of origin, Uttar Pradesh. “We are from Uttar Pradesh and we will speak in Hindi. Maharashtrians should forgive us,” she said. This immediately angered the MNS party leader who claimed he would ‘ban’ any Bachchan movie from the state, ordering his party activists to blacken any Bachchan posters that were produced.
Abhi will soon be seen in the eagerly-awaited Drona and Dostana and next year will be seen in Dilli 6. Amitabh will be the genie in Aladin and is currently working on Talismaan and Exclusion. Aishwarya will be seen in The Pink Panther 2 with Steve Martin and Andy Garcia and is also making her first Kollywood film in nearly ten years, Endhiran.
