‘We contemplated legal action against Lara and Bipasha’

... says Sabbas Joseph, organiser of the Bachchans’ world tour

The stars accompanying the Bachchans for The Unfogettables tour in July have been finalised.

Confirming the list, Sabbas Joseph of Wizcraft, organisers of the tour says, “Preity and Riteish will be at all the venues. Akshay Kumar, Madhuri Dixit and Shahid Kapoor are the guest stars for US, Trinidad, Amsterdam and the UK.”

Getting the performers wasn’t easy since a couple of stars opted out. “From the outset, Lara and Bipasha were definitely on, along with Riteish and the Bachchans. There’s photographic evidence of them confirming their presence at last year’s IIFA.” When asked for the change of mind, Sabbas says, “Riteish was signed last year. He stood by his deal even though his box-office equity has doubled. A commitment is a commitment.”

He adds, “My question to the people who opted out is: ‘You’ve had the hits and you believe your price is changed. But what about commitment?’ Also, let me remind the ones who are no longer on the tour that we’re showcasing Indian cinema on on an international level. A Bachchan tour takes Indian cinema as far as it can go. According to me, being part of it is a matter of pride.”

Sabbas doesn’t think the actresses dropped out due to the Aishwarya factor. “Not at all! Ash and Abhishek are the two actresses’ buddies and would’ve gone out of their way to make them feel at home.

No, I think it was the temptation to hike their remuneration.”

He adds, “We did contemplate legal action. But finally it seemed a waste of time and energy. If an individual doesn’t want to be part of an event, it doesn’t make sense to force them to perform. No point in having performers who won’t enjoy what they’re doing the audience won’t enjoy it either.”

Subash K. Jha