@iamsrk: "...& my boys r in full strength. KKR squad r now ready & all set to play their hearts out. Love you guys...see u on 8th."

STARBURST

 

Vs 

 

CLOUDBURST

WHAT: Grand opening ceremony of IPL 8
WHERE: Salt Lake stadium
WHEN: 7.30pm
GATES OPEN: 5.30pm
NO ENTRY: Video or still camera, tiffin box, water bottles or anything that can be used as a missile, cigarettes, matches, lighters and umbrellas
PARKING: Only cars with parking stickers will be allowed to park on the stadium premises, entrance through the VIP gate on the Bypass Road
TO AVOID: The road leading from the Hyatt Regency to Broadway (the road to the stadium) may be closed to traffic from 5.30pm

The stage had been rigged, the lighting and projection systems tested and the dance rehearsals fine-tuned. If there was one thing show director Roshan Abbas could only pray about on the eve of the starry starry IPL8 inaugural night at Salt Lake stadium on Tuesday evening, it was the prospect of clear skies.

"Thanks to the astroturf, the water is draining quickly. And we have increased the number of personnel that might be required to mop the floors," Roshan said. "But if it rains during the show....everything is in god's hands."

The star quotient of the show, to be compered by Chhote Nawab Saif Ali Khan, couldn't be bigger. Hrithik Roshan, Anushka Sharma, Shahid Kapoor, Farhan Akhtar and Presidency boy Pritam are all scheduled to perform on stage.

But Roshan, a stage actor and sometime TV anchor, insisted that technology would be the star of his show. "We are using half the stadium turf for projections. A D-shaped white flex has been laid out for that."

The main stage is at the centre and there will be five satellite stages surrounding the perimeter of the flex. A Christie projector will beam visuals and graphics of 25,000 ANSI Lumens intensity on the floor. Just for comparison, the brightness of a cinema projection system is about 8,000 ANSI Lumens.

"Such giant projections are seen only in events like the Super Bowl and ice hockey championship openings," said Abbas, whose company Encompass has been contracted to put up a befitting opening to more than a month of top-class T20 cricket.

Unlike Sunday, when a squall had played spoilsport, rehearsals were in full swing throughout Monday until the rain came at 5.45pm. Pritam, guitar slung over his shoulder, had just got on stage and started strumming to the opening strains of Anandaloke Mangalaloke when it started drizzling.

Anushka arrived straight from the airport soon after. She waited half an hour for the rain to stop before leaving for the hotel. At 6.45pm, choreographer Remo D'Souza called the background dancers over for rehearsals under the shelter of Ramp 15. "We can't dance in the rain, unless we are planning a rain dance, of course," Remo quipped.

The rain stopped a little later. "But look at the stage. What can we do? We haven't danced even once on stage yet," Remo said.

Hrithik walked in at 7.50pm to find the dancers already on stage to resume their rehearsals after a group of workers had mopped the floor. "Did it rain last night also?" the Bollywood star asked Remo and director Roshan.

"Don't worry, it won't rain again," Hrithik smiled even before someone could answer his query. "Even if it rains, I will dance. Hair all fluffy, it will be nice. Just make sure you have some cameras handy."

The strobe lights came on as if on cue and spotting him from a distance on the stage, the local dancers down below let out a collective shriek of "Hrithik! Hrithik!"

By then, Anushka was back from the hotel and Hrithik gallantly stepped aside for her. "No problem. I will wait here. Just get me a chair," he said.

"Sir, you have a room in the stadium," someone reminded him. "No, no. What will I do looking at white walls?" Hrithik laughed, plonking himself on the track as Anushka started her act.

Hrithik had arrived at the Hyatt Regency around 5.30pm and was greeted by GM Britta Leick-Milde, who is known to be a fan of the Bang Bang! star. As he emerged from his room in a red T-shirt around 7.30pm to go to the stadium, Hrithik was heard loudly whistling a tune from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. It was the same tune he and Shah Rukh Khan had hummed together in the car scene in London.

Tuesday's show will start at 7.30pm, in pitch darkness, with a child walking up to the stage and lighting a diya, followed by a lighting display mimicking flames. The opening choral piece will be a tribute to Tagore.

"It's sounding operatic. Pritamda has done a fantastic job," director Roshan said of Pritam's choice of Anandaloke Mangaloke.

"Expect a Swahili interlude. I am giving the song a world music feel," Pritam told Metro.

The music director has also devised a piece using the dhak, kansor and khol with a chorus. "It will be an ode to Bengal," Roshan said.

Actor-director Farhan will be reciting a poem from Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara to the accompaniment of cricket visuals before rocking the stage with his band.

There will be four large screens on the sides for the audience to get a close-up view of the stage. With half the stadium becoming the backdrop, about 30,000 spectators will get to watch the action from the stands. "This show needs to be watched from a height. There will be no floor seats," Roshan said.

In keeping with the Bollywood theme of the evening, city boy DJ Vicky will keep the crowd on its toes from 5.30pm with hits like the Bang Bang title track, Senorita, Tu meri, Gandi baat, Nagada nagada, Dance pe chance, Ainvayi ainvayi and Pungi - all from films of the stars who will be performing on stage.

An hour and a half of the show will be telecast live, excluding a portion of the Pritam concert that will comprise a mash-up of his chartbusters.

The show will end with a fireworks display that director Roshan promises will be grander than ever. "We want to give Calcutta a show that it wouldn't want to end," said the Encompass boss.

Knight Yusuf Pathan is looking forward to the show. "I will be watching Saif Ali Khan and Hrithik Roshan perform live for the first time. I am excited about it. Dekhtey hain kis tarah ka weather rehta hain (Let's wait and see what the weather holds)," said the all-rounder.