Source: Hindustan Times
Videovision Entertainment's Bollywood spectacular, the Now Or Never Live ! stadium extravaganza, won the 2003 Best Live Production Award of the Technical Production Services Association of South Africa at a glittering awards ceremony at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg last night.
Now Or Never Live ! was a once-in-a-lifetime music and dance extravaganza with the giants of Indian Cinema at the ABSA Stadium in Durban on Saturday, 28 December 2002. The show featured legendary Indian actor, Amitabh Bachchan and a star-studded troupe that included Bollywood's top stars Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt, Karisma Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Sushmita Sen, Preity Zinta, Shilpa Shetty and Rani Mukherjee perform to a record crowd of over 50 000 people. This event marked the first time that so many popular stars of Indian cinema have performed together in one mega-show the likes of which has not been seen anywhere in the world.
In order to ensure a high stand of technical excellence, Videovision Entertainment engaged South Africa's leading production and equipment rental company, Gearhouse to provide the staging, audiovisual, sound and lighting and The Art Of Light for the construction of the set. The gigantic stage incorporated traditional Indian and African motifs while the high-tech lighting design added an extra dose of glamour to the set, all of which were designed especially for the event by Tim Dunn of Gearhouse. The stage was the biggest ever built for a live concert in South Africa and over 280 tons of equipment valued at more than R115 million was utilised to deliver the most dazzling show ever in South Africa.
"We are absolutely thrilled with winning the Best Live Production Award," said Chief Executive of Videovision Entertainment, Anant Singh. "The stars of the show did an incredible job entertaining the audience for more than six hours, but the technical production and stage and lighting design were equally important, adding a touch of high tech glamour to the event. The services of Gearhouse helped us deliver a dazzling event that the audience will remember for many years to come. Most importantly, however, Now Or Never Live ! was produced and staged entirely by South Africans," continued Singh.
source-videovision entertainment
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Source: PTI
DURBAN: Fans snapped up 10,000 tickets for a Bollywood show to be held here within four hours of sales opening, organisers said on Monday.
"In the first four hours more than 10 000 were sold", movie producer and promoter of the show Anant Singh said.
"It was like a gold rush."
Cine Star Amitabh Bachchan, a co-promoter of the December 28 show, is a major draw.
Others stars likely to feature are Hrithik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor, Karisma Kapoor, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherjee, Sanjay Dutt, Shahrukh Khan, Shilpa Shetty and Sushmita Sen.
About 40,000 tickets are on sale for the event.
The promoters are taking out full-page advertisements in major newspapers in Durban and broadcasting voice clips of Bachchan and other stars on Radio Lotus, a radio station catering for people of Indian origin.
Big B's Show in Durban : "Sold Out"
More than half of the 40,000 tickets for a blockbuster Bollywood show to be staged at the ABSA stadium in Durban on December 28 have been sold out within days of booking offices being opened.
The "Now or Never" live stage show, being co-produced by Indian cinema legend Amitabh Bachchan and South African movie mogul Anant Singh, will feature Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt, Rani Mukherjee, the Kapoor sisters Karisma and Kareena, Preity
Zinta, Sushmita Sen and Shilpa Shetty.
Singh claimed he was confident of the show, the first of its kind in South Africa, being sold out.
"We really did not expect a rush like this in the first few days. So, based on what we've seen, I'm certain it will be sold out," he said.
The promoter confirmed that he was in almost daily touch with co-producer Bachchan, who was hard at work in Mumbai – rehearsing himself and overseeing the items to be performed by the other stars.
"He is very excited about working with Tim Dunne, the acclaimed lighting and stage designer from South Africa. The stage is still being designed, but when you see it you'll fall off your chair," promised an excited Singh.
A firm supporter of local talent, Singh confirmed that the entire technical crew for the show would be South African, adding that attention is also being paid to involving South African Indian musicians and dancers with those being brought down from India under the baton of music director Viju Shah.
He said leading playback singers from India would also be part of the show, but could not give their names yet as agreements were still being finalised.
Dismissing rumours that the stars may make brief appearances on stage to make politically correct speeches and dance an item before
disappearing, Singh said each of them would have at least 20 to 30 minutes in the four-hour show.
"On Tuesday, before Bachchan's manager Kirit Trivedi left back to India, we had meetings with South African leaders in the entertainment field, including (national Indian radio station) Lotus FM to ensure that the artists perform the items that are popular with South Africans.
"We started this discussion when Amitabh was here in April (to launch his film 'Aankhein', distributed by Singh in South Africa) and he said to me: 'Let's do something that's never been done before. Let's do something special'.
"It is his relationship with all these talents that has enabled (the show)to become what it has. Certainly we sitting here would have had no chance of putting 10 superstars like these together.
"I think there's a respect factor for Amitabh involved as well. But South Africa is also a strong fan base for all these stars and all of them have agreed in the past to come here for little appearances at things like the IIFA Awards (at Sun City last year). This will be different though with the stars doing enough to please their fans."
While working class fans of the movie stars may have snapped up tickets to catch a glimpse of their idols, the elite may get a unique opportunity to rub shoulders with them at a special banquet that is being planned, with South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma as chief guest.
"What we are going to be doing is a private dinner totally separate from the show on the evening before it takes place. There will not be anyone performing, it will be more like a welcome event," said Singh, who hoped that all the stars would have arrived by then and would not be too tired to attend the event.