Unforgettable Diary: Day 2 – Bachchans play Calypso beats in Trinidad

By Bollywood Hungama -

July 22, 2008 - 12:00 AM IST

From Toronto, the magic moved on to Trinidad where eager fans were waiting to catch a glimpse of the Bachchan family. Incidentally, Amitabh Bachchan isn't entirely unfamiliar with the place since he had visited Trinidad a couple of decades back. - Even as the 'Unforgettable' team was packing bags from Toronto, news reached that Trinidad was a sell out already. However, while pre-event celebrations were on, there was some 'gham' in store as the flight was delayed from Toronto to Miami; the stopover for Trinidad. As the team cooled its heels for a good 3-4 hours, all it did was crash on bed once the entourage reached Trinidad after a cumulative 14 hours of exhausting traveling. - While 'dead tired' was the best way to describe the state of stars (well, even stars have their off-moments), sparkles came in the form of countless fans who were patiently waiting at the airport and even the hotel lobby. Not quite surprising even as the stars set their feet on ground well into mid night. - As is a known fact, a good part of Trinidadian population belongs to Indian origin. However, not many know how to speak Hindi. Even then, when it came to popular Bollywood songs, they could well be heard reciting them. Not just that, on reception, to everyone's pleasant surprise, there were two huge plasma screens playing popular Hindi songs. - While it was hardly a surprise to see Amitabh Bachchan being a known name in Trinidad, what brought a smile on Abhishek Bachchan's face was to see huge hoardings of him endorsing Motorola cell phones. Last one heard, he was grinning from ear to ear with his global popularity. - Shock shock! Just when it seemed that everything was going just perfect, news reached that a couple of key people from the core technical team were stuck in Puerto Rico, an alternate stopover for those who were not coming through Miami. It became a little hectic for the organizers as they made frantic arrangements for the engineers to be brought down from Puerto Rico to Trinidad through a chartered flight. - Even in the face of adversities, Vishal urged organizers not to worry and assured them that things would fall in place in spite of technical glitches. With 15 years experience of live performances behind him, he believed that whenever there was a bigger 'panga', an event always turned out to be even more outstanding - Hours before the lights went on for the show, audiences were witnessed standing in long queues while waiting impatiently for the gates to open for Queens Park Oval, a cricket stadium in Trinidad. - From a packed audience in Toronto to a 12000 strong crowd in Trinidad, it was an unbelievable experience for everyone involved. The sets and lighting may not necessarily be equated to the ones witnessed in Toronto but the atmosphere was simply eclectic. No wonder, the moment show kicked off, it was hysteria all over. - Abhishek Bachchan and Riteish Deshmukh were in their elements all over again as they got together into the 'Bluffmaster' act for the umpteenth time. However, no one seemed to be minding that at all as mad frenzy overpowered everyone and everything else which was happening all over. - What surprised Vishal and Shekhar was the impromptu jam that Abhishek and Riteish got themselves into even as the composers were aiming to do something different with a Gujarati song in play. Abhishek took the mike away from them and got into his own act which got the house down. A folk number with a fusion feel to it, it turned out to be one performance worth to be remembered as the audience were seen jumping on their chairs. - The moment Amitabh Bachchan decided to take charge, there wasn't anything audible at all for full two minutes! Big B had been to the place before in the 80s and hence the connection was pretty much apparent. Confessing that Trinidad was like a home town for him, he amazed everyone with a calypso jam. Highlight of the event was Mr. Bachchan - the composer - as he took charge of instructing the men behind guitar, keyboard and other key instruments. Result was a calypso jam which reminded audience of 'Jumma Chumma' [Hum]. - Talking of 'Jumma Chumma', in a well laid out tribute sequence to the Big B, along with Abhishek and Ash, Ritiesh and Preity too joined the fun and did their own jig on the superhit chartbuster from the 90s. Apart from 'Jumma Chumma', the song which took the cake was 'Saara Zamaana' [Yaarana] which had Amitabh Bachchan arriving in ever-so-famous bulb costume. Soon he was joined by all other youngsters as well with the best part about the performance being each of them wearing similar costumes. The lights truly shone in Trinidad that evening! - Grand finale came in the form of 'Jhoom Barabar Jhoom' sequence which involved 'naach gaana' from all the stars including Vishal and Shekhar. Between them, they captured all ends of the stage and started jumping around throughout its length and breadth to cover as much audience amongst themselves as possible. From here, 'The Unforgettable Tour' moves to LA. Since the show is scheduled for 26th July, it gives a 3 days break for everyone to chill out!