The caravan that is the Unforgettable Tour hits London this holiday weekend and will take place at the magnificent O2 Arena in Docklands on Sunday, August 24th. Special guest Shilpa Shetty will be joining Amitabh, Abhishek and Aishwarya, the triple-A Bachchans, in their record-breaking show.
But how can the almost impossibly nice Shilpa be here in London and also hosting The Big Boss on Indian television at the same time? Shilpa’s schedule is so intense with TV, movies, fashion shoots, yoga videos and goodness knows what else that some are beginning to believe that she has an identical twin sister called Ashwini who fulfils half her dates for her!! It’s a thought…..
“It will be fantastic!” exclaimed Abhishek when asked about the London gig. Ritesh Deshmukh was asked about the time he’d spent with the Bachchans in the US. “We bonded in America,” he said. “On one of our free days between shows in Los Angeles I went with Abhishek, Aishwarya and Jaya-aunty to three movies back-to-back.”
The big question everyone’s asking is will the Bachchan’s be able to fill the O2 Arena with its 20,000 expensive seats. It’s a feat only achieved before by Madonna, Elton John and Michael Jackson. Anil Mehta, a fan from Harrow, said, “The word ‘impossible’ never exists in Bollywood. I am sure we will manage to fill the entire arena with our love and undying support for the film industry which we have seen grow with us since our childhood days. It all goes to show how much Bollywood has inspired us over the years. It’s pay back time for us now.”
Things are looking good on the ticket sales front with fans complaining that they may have left it too late to buy one. “I am a bit sad because I still haven’t managed to get my hands on the tickets for the show,” said Jatin Karia of the Samskara health & fitness centre in Harrow, “Now I have no option but to buy the VIP tickets. Big B is the only reason I’ll be buying these tickets.”
But the show is not just about connecting with the fans and providing a night of good solid entertainment. It also has a more serious side. It is linked to the ‘Light a Billion Lives’ campaign – an initiative of The Energy Resource Institute of India. The campaign intends to provide solar-powered cells to light up the homes of poorer people in rural areas in many countries including India, Myanmar, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Ghana and Malawi.
In addition, Amitabh will be joining British MP Keith Vaz in Leicester on Saturday to open a new diabetes awareness centre providing free blood tests and information to the many diabetes sufferers in the UK. There are estimated to be 2.2 million diabetes sufferers in the UK, including Keith Vaz himself. “It is a great honour to welcome a star of the calibre of Amitabh Bachchan to Leicester to contribute to this important cause, and one which I know will delight all local people,” he said. The event is expected to be mobbed by hundreds of Big B fans.
The whole weekend is likely to be unforgettable for the legions of Bollywood fans in the UK.
