BollyParty

Bollywood glamour couple Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan have launched in Toronto the multi-million dollar "Unforgettable" tour, a 40-day song and dance extravaganza across the global also featuring mega superstar Amitabh Bachchan and other A-listers from Hindi film industry.

"Unforgettable", which aims to promote India through entertainment all over the world, opened in this Canadian city Friday night at the packed Rogers Centre.

Apart from Abhishek and Ash, a number of other top stars like Preity Zinta , Akshay Kumar , Ritesh Deshmukh and Shilpa Shetty enthralled the viewers with their performances.

The show is billed as a "best of" Indian cinema, with 70 songs from different films being reproduced on stage.

Explaining their reasons for choosing the Ontario capital for their first show, Abhishek said: "Toronto is a city very close to our hearts. It's a city that's always given us a lot of love and affection."

Former Miss World Ash and her husband Abhishek, who have been dubbed as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie of the Indian film industry, are confident they will gain legions of new fans in Canada thanks to the three-hour spectacular - which they are also due to perform everywhere from England to Kuwait and Singapore over the summer.

"Indian culture is a very musical culture," Abhishek said, adding "we like to celebrate every occasion. Our films are full of songs and dance."

"Indian cinema has burst onto a world stage and aroused a lot of interest in a Western audience," Abhishek said. "So, yes, we expect people who are not only from the Indian subcontinent to come to the show. We'll convert them once they see it, I assure you that!"

Bollywood patriarch Bachchan, who lost his luggage en route to Toronto, said it was now huge news back home.

"It's on national news in India because I mentioned it in my blog," he said at a news conference in Toronto, which was packed with members of ethnic press outlets as well all the major dailies and broadcasters.

Bachchan, who at 66 has more than 150 films to his credit, said: "Just before coming here we were delayed because I had to answer about 15 media questions on what the nature of my baggage was, and whether I was going to sue British Airways, and that I really should come on to the phone and talk to the media in India on national television."

He said the fact that Bollywood's hot, young power couple - his son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya - are part of the tour persuaded him to take on the ambitious project.

But now Bachchan has recovered his lost baggage from British Airways.

"The bags are back!! broken open, stuff missing but back", Bachchan wrote on his latest blog post.

"I am amazed at the speed with which modern communication operates. A short and insignificant mention to my readers regarding the bag loss became an issue with the national media," he said.

He said he was inundated with media requests for details and phone-ins from the electronic media and added that he was amused. "Competition must be severe for them to indulge in such inanities," he said.