Vashu the trendsetter

By Bollywood Hungama -

September 30, 2003 - 12:00 AM IST

Making the booklet of his film in the form of a U.S. Passport is old news. Showmanship scaled greater heights when prolific film-maker Vashu Bhagnani decided to release the music of his latest venture OUT OF CONTROL in an aircraft, en route to Delhi. Saturday, September 27 was a significant day for Vashu, who is known for promoting his films to the optimum level. Reason: The producer hired an entire aircraft of Air Sahara to launch the music of the film mid-air. Vashu truly went 'out of control' this time around. From the boarding cards to the head rests in the aircraft -- everything had the logo of the film embossed on them. Besides, cloth banners of the film were put up at the entrance of the Domestic Airport [Santacruz] and those travelling by other airlines couldn't help but stop and stare at the crowd that promised to swell by the minute. The cr? de la cr? of the film industry -- top notch producers Ratan Jain, Ganesh Jain, Gordhan Tanwani, Pravin Shah, Kumar Taurani, Boney Kapoor and Sridevi, Vijay Galani, Manmohan Shetty, Mukesh Bhatt, Suneel Darshan, distributors Balkrishna Shroff, Ravi Machchar, actor Zayed Khan -- along with select media persons and television crews were a part of the entourage. Of course, the principal cast of OUT OF CONTROL [Ritesh Deshmukh, Hrishita Bhatt, Satish Kaushik, Amrish Puri] as well as the behind-the-scenes team [music director Anand Raaj Anand, lyricist Dev Kohli, singers Babul Supriyo and Shreya Ghosal] were present as well. Exactly an hour after the flight took off, Sridevi and Boney Kapoor came to the middle of the aircraft -- where Ritesh, Hrishita, Anand Raaj Anand and Dev Kohli were seated -- and unveiled the music of the film. A mini stampede broke out in the aircraft as the television crews clamoured to capture this rare launch on camera. After the aircraft landed in Delhi, the guests proceeded to Noida for a dekho of the film's songs. The music release function coincided with the launch of the massive Wave multiplex, owned by eminent Delhi-U.P. distributor Ponty Chadha. A number of producers had already arrived before -- N.R. Pachisia, Rohit Shetty, Harry Baweja, Deepak Shivdasani, Lalit Kapoor, Neha Dhupia and N. Chandra with his XCUSE ME team of Sharman Joshi and Saahil Khan. Four songs of OUT OF CONTROL were screened on the occasion, but the ones that stood out were 'USA vich LA, te main LA di maina' and 'India se main aaya hoon'. Extensively shot in America, the songs are a visual treat and their picturisations are very MTV-ish, very trendy. The multiplex -- Wave -- surely created waves within the Bollywood fraternity, what with everyone checking out the overall complex. Songs over, well-known politician Amar Singh was called on stage to do the honours, of releasing the music of the film [on land this time!]. Raj Babbar, Abhishek Bachchan along with sister Shweta were the other guests of honour. A special troupe of dancers had been flown in from Canada to entertain the crowd, which stood mesmerised by their performance. Ruby Bhatia was the hostess for the evening. The guests returned to Mumbai the same night with memories of an experience they will never forget. Vashu Bhagnani, his wife Puja and brother Khemchand Bhagnani played perfect hosts. All in all, an experience that will remain etched in your memory for a long, long time!