All roads led to T. Nagar on Friday morning. The inauguration of the Kalyan Jewellers showroom, described as the world’s largest, saw not just the coming together of leading film stars from across the country, but also one of the biggest crowds in the city. And in the evening, at the official inaugural ceremony at the ITC Grand Chola, things were no different. It was much more than a big, fat kalyanam.
Despite starting much later than the scheduled time, the arrival of the stars got the crowd excited. There was the handsome Nagarjuna from Andhra Pradesh, the ravishing Manju Warrier representing God’s Own Country, son of the soil Prabhu and his son Vikram. But of course, the biggest cheers were reserved for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who has a long association with Chennai and Tamil cinema. And Amitabh Bachchan, India’s superstar, brand ambassador and all that…but at heart, a simple Sivaji Ganesan fan.
“For the past forty years, I’ve been coming to Chennai. I’d come first in the early 70s, to shoot the Hindi remake of a Tamil film starring Sivaji Ganesan, and since then, I’ve been a huge fan. I’ve driven past the actor’s house many times, but today, I had the honour to go inside — I consider it a pilgrimage.”
It was evident that Big B was, and is still, a huge admirer of films made from Kodambakkam. “I always believed that even though Hindi cinema is slightly more popular the world over, it is still a few steps behind the Tamil film industry. The efficiency, the kind of films made here… is a step ahead than the rest of the country.”
With the star striking a chord with the local audience present, his daughter-in-law, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, wasn’t far behind. Thanking the Kalyan family profusely, the Jeans star said, “The brand has given us all a great opportunity to come together. This is the first time that my dear Pa (“Amitabh Bachchan to the rest of you but Pa to me”) and I have worked together on a commercial, and that is special.”
And once the stars left, music took over. Singers Shankar Mahadevan and Hariharan presented an array of numbers — a mix of melody and mass — to ensure that the ‘wedding’, which started at 12.05 p.m. at T. Nagar, had a happily-ever-after ending.
