DUBAI: As a large Volvo truck drove mysteriously around an empty car park outside the Global Village, everyone's attention was piqued. Before rumours could begin, banners proudly flashed the faces of the four lead cast members of the Bollywood movie Players, a remake of the Hollywood movie The Italian Job.
It was the movie's international premiere and what better way to kick off proceedings than a little spinning and skidding around an empty car park on the eve of the Dubai Shopping Festival, in a couple of BMW Mini Coopers.
As two grey and blue minis spun in loops, kicking up a storm in the dusty car-park, the smell of burning tyres filled the air. Ten relentless minutes later the action filtered down to a drizzle as the cars mysteriously disappeared without a glimpse of the drivers.
Leading lady Bipasha Basu had a tough time convincing all that daredevils in those cars were not some stunt doubles spinning those wheels, but the stars themselves.
But that wasn't all — she was intent on letting on to the media during the movie's press conference on Wednesday. The buxom brunette also let slip that it was her birthday, that she wanted gold as an advance present, that she's very style-conscious… in fact with all the loud statements, the ease with which she hugged every actor, the speaking out of turn and stealing of her co-stars' thunder, one may have been mistaken for thinking this was a Bipasha Basu movie — and Abhishek Bachchan, Bobby Deol, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Sonam Kapoor were all the supporting cast.
Fan frenzy
As luck would have it, Bachchan's popularity, Deol's magnetism, Kapoor's innocence and Mukesh's drop-dead gorgeous looks meant that the spotlight was evenly distributed amongst the entire cast as well as the attending crew.
As the afternoon wore on, the players moved base to the World Culture Stage in the Global Village, where eager fans stood waiting.
As movie merchandise was being thrown to fans, a woman came up on stage to propose to Bobby Deol. One look at Mukesh, however, and she switched allegiance, pledging her love to the Caucasian-looking grandson of late Bollywood singer Mukesh.
Meanwhile, another female fan grabbed the opportunity to sing an old Bollywood tune to Bachchan in honour of his father Amitabh. Eager to grab the limelight once more, Bipasha found a male fan and asked him to do 10 push-ups in exchange for passes to the movie premiere later that evening — not before declaring that she could do much better with a record of 50 push-ups to her credit.
Easy banter between the stars, jokes, games and various prizes later, the cast went through a quick transformation before walking down the golden carpet — in keeping with the gold theme of the movie at its world premiere at the Grand Hyatt.
Last we heard, the stars were headed to an after-party at Club Pulse in the Mövenpick Hotel, Bur Dubai. Basu may just get her chance to bask all night long in the spotlight after all.
