Toronto played host for the premiere of the new Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai starrer Guru. As expected it created a lot of interest and mayhem like bollywood always does.
Bollywood couldn’t write a script this crazy.
But Bollywood North sure gave it a heck of a try at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre last night.
Normally you have to go to Bollywood to see that kind of excitement and movie mayhem.
Except for last night where Toronto was introduced to a movie premiere India-style — a night nobody who was there will ever forget.
The movie is called Guru and its producers chose Toronto to be the place for its premiere. Turns out it was a good decision. Turns out Toronto knows its Bollywood stars. Two of its biggest are in Toronto.
Even Mayor David Miller was there. You better believe he was. In this town on Jan. 11, 2007, there was no bigger ticket. Some fans paid $500 just to sit in the front row.
Others waited out in the cold for whatever it took.
What a spectacle! The security, the paparazzi, the cameras, the flashes, the pushing, the shoving.
The screaming.
People could hear it 10 blocks away.
None of the pros who cover these things can recall a movie premiere or any other event in Toronto history with more pandemonium. I know I can’t and I have been to a lot of stuff in my 15 years at the Sun.
It really was something.
“It’s just about the wildest (red carpet event) for sure,” said veteran celebrity photographer Tom Sandler, who has been to almost everything in the last 30 years. “That bordered on dangerous.”
He’s right. That thing had potential for trouble. But there was too much love for the stars for anything bad to happen.
Thousands lined Yonge St. for a look at them. Dozens of reporters, photographers, TV personnel from around the world were on hand to cover this big entertainment story.
The strange thing for some people walking by is they didn’t even know who they were.
CRUISE JEALOUS
But still, somewhere Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, and maybe Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, must have been jealous since the hottest stars on this continent last night were Abhishek Bachchan and his beautiful co-star and girlfriend Aishwarya Rai.
“Bollywood royalty,” said Bob Saroya.
He would know since he is one of the owners of Etobicoke’s own Bollywood Masala Restaurant, 25 Woodbine Downs Rd.
“We show their movies there,” he laughs. “We just had to be here.”
He and co-owner Alam Minhas will back open for business today. There will be lots to talk about.
A lot of new friends were made at this event since the stars were hours late — thanks to weather difficulties in India and a delayed flight.
“They are worth waiting for,” said Anisha Patel and her pal Arianna Battoo.
For them there are no bigger stars in the world.
“This is so exciting,” says Hina Shahid, who with friends Shaguftah Patel, Maeesha Patel and Maliha Patel waited six hours just to get a glimpse of the couple.
And glimpse is about all anybody could get.
The turmoil around them as they landed on the red carpet was insane. The Toronto Police and local security experts did a marvellous job of keeping it all together — although I could see some sweat coming off of them.
PRESSURE
You could sense the pressure they must have been under. The last thing anybody wanted was for the stars or anyone else to get trampled. Which was a distinct possibility given the pure adrenaline driving their Toronto fans.
But Bachchan and Rai really handled themselves well. You could tell it has happened to them before.
His father is one of India’s biggest stars and her background was winning a little beauty competition called Miss Universe.
They were real professional about making sure everybody got their picture. They didn’t move through an out-of-control media and fan line to safety as fast as their insurance company would have liked.
It had to be some moment for them. They seem like very nice people. Nice smile. No arrogance.
Even though they know the drill of being a Bollywood star, still they really seemed a little overwhelmed by the Toronto response. It was wild. The fans inside and out were screaming their names and I have never seen that many flashes go off.
“It’s amazing,” Rai said of the support.
She seemed a little surprised in a way. Same goes for Bachchan. Maybe they didn’t expect Canada to go that nuts for them.
They probably should have known they were in Bollywood after all — Bollywood North.
Source:http://torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2007/01/12/3320579-sun.html