B2B magic has Dubai spellbound

Indian heart-throb, Aamir Khan, took Dubai by storm last night at his Bollywood to Broadway (B2B) musical extravaganza. Drawn by his charismatic personality, Aamir fans turned out in huge numbers at the Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club to see their favourite screen icon in flesh and blood.

There was an air of excitement at the venue, which reverberated with 40k turbo sound and the catchy beat of A.R. Rahman's Lagaan and Shankar Ehsan Loy's Dil Chahta Hai soundtracks.

The show, largely based on the contrasting themes of these two top Aamir Khan hits of last year, also starred Aamir's female lead for Lagaan, Gracy Singh. The pair enacted the roles of Bhuvan and Radha, the simple village lovers of Champaner, and danced to the folksy Rahman scores O Re Chori.

For the trendy Dil Chahta Hai tracks, Aamir sported his new groovy look and was joined by his equally fun-loving co-stars from the movie, Akshaye Khanna, Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta for the pulsating track, Koi Kahe Kahta Rahe.

The stars, who made surprise entrances from various points, freely mixed with the audience and even picked up a few to join them in dance.

It was the rapport with the stars that made the show worth its while, especially when the Lagaan 'cricket team' arrived on stage and bowled over the audience with their comic antics, which struck a chord with people of all ages and many nationalities.

Sonali Bendre, the "surprise" element, presented a few sensuous dance numbers much to the delight of the gathering, while Shaan and Sukhvinder Singh belted out trendy numbers of the time.

Aamir, who was in Dubai in 1992 for the Khan vs Khan show, brought his show to Dubai with a Dh1,000 price tag for front row tickets. The only other Indian show with similar ticket prices was Amitabh Bachchan's mega show held here in the early 1990s.

Now, after the show's tremendous success in the UK and the U.S., Aamir was obviously enjoying every moment of his fame, as he struck a chord with the Dubai audience and lived up to his promise of providing the best in entertainment from Bollywood.

No wonder B2B has managed to tug at the audience's heartstrings. Organised by L'attitude and Percept Gulf, the show's main sponsor was ME Bank, while other sponsors were Al Tamy Perfumes (Zippo and Maglite), New Medical Centre (Nivea), Petrochem Carless, african & eastern, Arabian Biz Savers, Avis, Emirates, HUM FM, Le Meridien Dubai and Gulf News.