Bollywood on tour

Who said the US is going through recession?
Certainly not the Asian community there which is happily ready to spend upto $25 a head to ���Meet-and-Greet��� Bollywood stars in an Independence Day carnival that���s being held in Chicago and Houston coming August 15 and 16.
The promoter of this South Asian Carnival, one Farhanth Hussain who hit a goldmine with his first such event involving stars in 1986, is considered the leading Asian promoter of Bollywood in UK and US.And if his track record is anything to go by, leading Bollywood biggies have agreed to go to the US to meet and interact with fans, pose for pictures, and generally give the paying public their paisa vasool.
Shah Rukh Khan is supposed to be going, and so are Katrina Kaif, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Dia Mirza and Gulshan Grover. Confirming his participation, Grover said even playback singers like Kumar Sanu, Bala Subramanian, Krishna, Mohammad Salamat, Atif Aslam, Ali Zaffer and Ammant Ali are slated to join the contingent. There is also going to be a strong team of celebrity designers from India who will hold fashion shows for the audiences there. And cookery experts who will set up food courts. The carnival, to be held at Chicago���s Rosemont Convention Centre and Houston���s Reliant Park, attracts upto 50,000 visitors each day.
Meanwhile, Bollywood fans in Indiana face the disappointment of having a show there tomorrow featuring Ameesha Patel, Tusshar Kapoor and Gulshan Grover among other stars cancelled. This was in aid of a charity organisation. ���But the organisers couldn���t manage to get work permits for the entire troupe. Around 1,000 people were going to perform Jai Ho!,��� said Gulshan.