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When Bollywood hits town, Washington becomes an Indian reserve

Kavita Khanna in Washington

Look! There's Anil Kapoor in a purple jogging suit! Yes, he, the Bollywood wonder himself! And he is here, in the U S of A, right here, in this massive arena of George Mason University where 10,000 first generation Indians have gathered to watch a 55-year-old man huff and puff and try to blow the house down...

Yeah, folks, the man is here, among us, here, on May 31^st, with all of us who have spent 150 hard-earned dollars and five hours of our precious weekend time to see Big B's struggle against fast Hindi dance numbers...

With us, he is -- us, patriotic Indians whose feet do not tap to Tapac Shakur's rap; us, who do not swoon to Michael Bolton's song; us, to whom Tom Cruise doesn't mean a darned thing...

Us, who religiously watch every movie that Bollywood cranks out; us, who try not to smash the TV sets as irritating animated ads block our favourites' faces on fuzzy, pirated video prints; us, for whom Bollywood is an addiction, a dedication, a religion...

Anil Kapoor is with us, folks -- us, who would, at the drop of a hat, cheerfully go through all the troubles we went to get here again. Any day, any time, and wait patiently -- as we are doing now at 8 pm on this night, squinting into a whole row of powerful strobe lights, trying to figure out what is going on stage, half-deaf from the onplaying thunderous music.

The star is here, all right. But why that worried look on his face? Why the restless pacing up and down this corridor backstage? Don't tell me he is nervous!

And, hey, see that lady there? That's Manisha Koirala's mother. She looks quite upset. Did you hear that? Manisha left for this place more than two hours ago, and is still not here. And I could have sworn it was no more than a 20-minute drive! Looks like the limo driver lost his way. Yes, I can hear them desperately trying to guide him back on track over the cell phone.

And there is Aly Morani of the Raja Hindustani fame. Aly and his two brothers are the directors of this mega event. They are standing there with Bunty Soorma. Chalo, let's leave them to themselves and go take a look at the dressing rooms.

That one is Amitabh's room, yep, the one with security guards planted outside. There, a few doors down is Archana Puran Singh's; she shares it with the female dance troupe. Right next door is the one which Anil and Sanjay shares.

Across it is where the male dance troupe is put up. And Manisha's makeup room is next to theirs. The lights are still off -- I guess, the lady is yet to find her way. Ah, here she is! Manisha has made it finally! Amitabh is putting his arm around her shoulder and smiling.

"Aapne to hamain darra hi diya tha...kahan gayab ho gayi thee (You really scared us. Where did you disappear?)," he asks.

Hey! I just heard Archana's unmistakably throaty voice say, "Hellooooo Washington!" Looks like the concert has started. Let's go grab our seats and watch the show.

Jeez! Never knew going backstage and coming back would be like crossing the international border! Suspicious looks, guards checking our credentials at every step... God!

Come quickly, and grab this seat! Doesn't the stage look pretty well set up? I don't remember seeing that wide screen backdrop in any previous concerts. It looks nice with all those soft lights reflecting on it.

The band members are all there on stage. There is Viju Shah in the centre, facing them and looking dashing in his tux. Archana looks good too, in that tight, long, sleeveless black leather-type dress. (And those silver platform heels must be at least 5 to 6 inches long!) Can't you feel the sense of expectancy and excitement building up as she shouts off the star names?

The kick-off for the evening is Sonali Bajpai singing the title song of Aar Ya Paar. But, gosh! I can barely make out what she is singing -- the acousticwallahs need to get their act together.

Okay, here comes Archana again. This time, she introduces the 'ace' with the 'cute face'. Her voice is coming across crisp and clear -- thank god for that!

Sanjay Kapoor is carried in by four scantily clad female dancers. He is wearing a red lace shirt over a black vest and black trousers. Though he hasn't given many hits, he is still pretty popular with the crowd -- they sure are giving him a hearty welcome as he and the troupe perform a couple of his film hits.

Next, it's Chetan Rana with a song from Koyla. Sigh! Looks like the acoustics chaps have still not got around to doing anything. Anyway, the music sounds good.

Shilpa Shetty follows in black and silver tights to dance. She sure moves well. And what a figure! Her performance wraps up, and as the song I love you, I love you... from Auzaar begins, she walks across the stage, acknowledging the audience with waves and flying kisses.

"We love you, we love you..." chants the audience. And they mean it.

Archana is now introducing Sudesh Bhosle who is giving a monologue which no one seems interested in. Let him sing a couple of numbers after that; we will go take a stretch outside. Hmm, looks like a lot others have the same idea...