‘Shootout At Wadala’ stars kick up a storm

Life isn’t too shabby when you can kick off your weekend with some hefty dose of Bollywood star power.

On Thursday, Dubai experienced it first-hand as Bollywood film ‘Shootout At Wadala’ stars John Abraham, Anil Kapoor, Tusshar Kapoor, Sunny Leone and Sophie Chaudhry took over the China Court at Ibn Battuta Mall. They emerged from a giant wooden ship and kicked up a storm in no time. Agreed, they made hundreds of eager Bollywood fans wait for 90 minutes, but their high spirits made up for their tardiness.

When Abraham, who plays the role of a dreaded gangster Manye Surve in the film hollered: “Who’s the boss of Mumbai? — Manya Surve, that’s who?”, his fans were quick to catch up with him. What we saw next was something that’s straight out of an iconic rockstar’s life: Hundreds whipped out their mobile phones and chanted his on-screen name. Anything he said was met with deafening screams and shouts of romantic declarations from his legion of female fans. Something told me that if Abraham demanded a kidney at that point, there would have been many volunteers.

Another actor who won the crowds over was the age-defying Anil Kapoor. The ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ actor’s war cry was “Jhakkas” — a trademark phrase that he uses often to dial up excitement among his fans.

Lending glamour to the event was ‘Jism 2’ star Sunny Leone, draped in an olive green ensemble. As she grooved to the beats of her item song ‘Laila’, Abraham and Tusshar Kapoor joined in the fun. It was brief and over in a flash, but the crowds lapped it up anyway. It should have been a song and dance concert, but the crowds were more than happy to see them in the flesh.

‘Shootout At Wadala’ releases in the UAE on May 2.