Archives for 2007

The hottest Bollywood movie out of India, Guru, premiered Thursday night in Toronto, Canada. Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, the stars of the film, and the new Brad and Angelina of the Indian community.

Arpana Vora declared that the couple were “Absolutely gorgeous. Both of them. Just stunning!”, moments after the darling duo was whisked along the red carpet and into the screening.

Rai, who wore a white sari, and Bachchan, who donned a black suit and headband, were several hours late for the gala because of flight schedules and didn’t stop for questions. The delay built momentum at Toronto’s historic Elgin Theatre where the crowd of approximately 1,200 fans stood screaming on the sidewalk behind barriers for 6 hours. Yet another 1,200 filmgoers were already inside the theater.

The films producers chose Toronto for the premiere after receiving an impressive response for “Never Say Goodbye” which was another Bollywood film. That film had premiered at The Toronto International Film Festival this past September. The Gala crowd out numbered that for Brad Pitts film Babel.

“The South Asian community is very important to our city and so is the film industry. Bollywood brings them together,” said Mayor David Miller as he walked into the screening.

Producer Bobby Bedi (“Bandit Queen,” “Fire”) said at the premiere he chose Toronto for his premiere because it “by far is one most cosmopolitan city in the world.”

“Guru” is loosely based on the life of a young man who rose from poverty in a small Indian village in the 1950s to defy the odds and become a major textile merchant. In the film version, the character of Gurukant Desai (Bachchan) employs unethical methods to achieve his materialistic goals but does what he has to do to crack a market firmly controlled by the rich and privileged.

Rai – who has been described as giving Halle Berry strong competition for the unofficial title of most beautiful woman in the world – plays his wife Sujatha.

“She was stunning. Stunning. Very beautiful,” said Adesh Vora after he caught a glimpse of Rai. Looking at his wife though, he hesitated to concur that Rai is the most beautiful woman on Earth.

“My wife is number one,” he said.