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The fab four

Sejal Parikh and Kavita Khanna in Washington DC

Shah Rukh Khan. Click for bigger pic!

The star-studded advertisements on TV and the glossy pamphlets in the Indian stores seemed too good to be true. I mean, the top names in Bollywood. All together? Live on stage? No way!

The charming Shah Rukh Khan and the macho Akshay Kumar promised on TV to give their fans the show of a lifetime. And there was the doe-eyed Kajol and the bubbly Juhi Chawla too, providing details of their date and time of arrival.

The concert was named The Fabulous Foursome. So what if the supporting cast seemed weak? As the name of the concert indicated, promoters had already gathered that Gulshan Grover, Anu Malik and Shweta Shetty would play mere fifth wheels in this star-studded concert. Sponsors throughout the country, such as Elite Entertainment in Washington DC, Video Vision and Al Mansoor Video in Chicago, boasted of record ticket sales the moment publicity for the event began over three months ago.

"Well, I'm sure this is a gimmick. I bet some of these stars are mysteriously going to drop out at the last minute..." said Arun, who was buying a ticket at a local Indian store, "But heck -- even if one of them shows up, I'll get my money's worth!" he added excitedly. I'm sure he was very happy to get four times that finally.

Juhi Chawla. Click for bigger pic!

The excitement was almost palpable as stretch limousines slid brought in the stars and people excitedly chattered in the hallway of the sports arena, champing at samosas, chaat, and other Indian snacks.

As we questioned the people waiting impatiently outside the George Mason University's Patriot Center for the concert to begin, an interesting pattern emerged. Amongst the female members of the audience, Shah Rukh Khan seemed to have won over the 18-40 + age group, while Akshay Kumar was the predominant favourite amongst the younger group.

Hearing the sound adjustments being made and guessing that they were a prelude to the show actually beginning, the fans began heading for their seats. They were greeted by large projection screens above an on either side of the stage depicting scenes from various movies starring the four stars.

Meanwhile backstage, even with the all-new star cast, many a face from previous shows were familiar. International and national promoter Vijay Taneja paced the backstage corridors, cell phone glued to his ear. Most of the dance troupe members were the same people who came this way last year. Even Kajol's makeup artist -- she was the same one who had accompanied Manisha Koirala last time!

Gulshan Grover. Click for bigger pic!

Still as enthusiastic as ever, they were a little nonplussed, though, when a temporary glitch in the makeup room assignments forced them out into the corridors where they changed costumes between items.

As the time for the show approached, Gulshan and Akshay champed away at the snacks with the extras in the makeshift café, Shah Rukh Khan smoked alone in his makeup room, and Juhi relaxed in hers. Kajol sat reading Jennifer Feather's Valentine with mom Tanuja standing guard outside her daughter's quarters. We realised only later that Kajol's frantic munching as she buried herself in a book was to keep her mind off the fact that this was her first-ever stage appearance.

"It's scary to be on stage," she said. "You make all these slip ups you know.... Even after more than half the tour is over, I'm still learning the art of covering up my mistakes.... It's hard."

The Fabulous Foursome started their show around 8:15 -- 15 minutes behind. As the crowd settled in, they were treated to a variety of entertaining performances by the stars. Anu Malik got the crowd tapping their feet to some of his popular songs from movies Kareeb, Border, Viraasat, Judwaa, and many more.

As Kajol and Akshay performed their first items on stage, it was obvious that technically, the special effects for this show were superior to those done before. But there still was room for improvement in the costumes and choreography departments.

Excited cheering started as the stage lights were dimmed and fans guessed that Juhi was about to make her appearance. The cheering soon reached a state of frenzy as fireworks went off and the rain of flower petals welcomed her as she was lowered on stage -- demurely clad in a deep purple cloak with a hood. As the music climaxed, she jerked her afghan off to reveal a glimmering white classical outfit. And a roar went around the arena that muted all else. She danced to tunes from Saat Rang Ke Sapne and Ishq before taking the mike, breathless, but most happy to speak to the audience.

Anu Malik. Click for bigger pic!

"Oh - most of what I said out there came ad hoc," she admitted backstage to us after her performance, as she signed autographs for a small group. "Uh... the sher.. Of course, I had practised from before, though!" she giggled, referring to the few lines of Urdu poetry she had recited a few minutes ago to a receptive audience.

It was obvious from the outset that the audience didn't know Shweta Shetty. It almost seemed that the applause she got for her songs were more polite, a result of the generosity spawned by the presence of the four stars. Her rendition of Celine Dione's My Heart Will Go On (from the soundtrack of Titanic) seemed to catch the audience by surprise -- a pleasant one.

Once the fans realised that Shah Rukh Khan was the only one of the Fab Four left, every time the lights were dimmed, the audience roared wildly in anticipation-fuelled cheering. Finally Shah Rukh got up there before them and made his appearance. After a brief comic skit between himself and Kajol, the reigning king of Bollywood drove the audience wild with a performance to Chaiyaan Chaiyaan from Dil Se.

Members of the audience used Gulshan Grover's appearances between items to take a break outside. There was a little-known male singer who sang in the voice of a girl, name of Sairam Iyer. But he had little effect after the initial surprise he generated.

Kajol. Click for bigger pic!

Shah Rukh invited participants from the audience to perform items with him. But as some heat was generated, he said, "...All you guys, if I pick your girlfriend, or wife, or daughter, or sister to perform with me, please don't get angry.... If it's any consolation, my wife will beat the s*** out of me when I get home!" And that helped lighten the mood, particularly since many disappointed fans could not get on stage with him.

Akshay brought an old lady on stage and her comments on homesickness and the good feeling such concerts generated caused some to shed a tear, others to roll their eyes.

And so the show went on. Monologues, and dances to a packed house of 8000. Clapping, cheering and, yes, some yawns too... And the hours ticked away...

Shah Rukh and Juhi came with a particularly entertaining and well-choreographed item -- filled with song, dance and jokes -- to an end, it was a little after midnight. Great item, but a surprising letdown as the Grand Finale of the Fabulous Foursome show. As Shah Rukh prompted the various on-the-scene and behind-the-scenes stars of the show to come on stage, fans filed out and made their way to the jammed parking lot.

"I liked the Mehndi lagaa ke rakhnaa from Dilwaale Dulhanyan Le Jayenge," gushed eight-year Arjun. "Kajol is my favourite!"

"Well....," stalled Mike, as we cornered him and asked for an opinion on his first Bollywood concert. "Ummm..... I sure liked the samosas they were selling outside!"

"We were here to see Shah Rukh and yes, he's made the concert everything I expected it to be," volunteered a Pakistani girl, speaking on behalf of her gang of friends.

After it all, Vishal Goel, promoter for the concert in Detroit, expressed his fears: "With such a star cast, it's going to be very, very hard to organise another concert to match up to this one."

Well, at the rate they are going, they should manage all right.