SURREY — A show co-promoted by a Surrey-based company will bring some of Bollywood's biggest stars to Vancouver this weekend.The SLAM! tour (Sound, Light, Action, Music) makes a stop at the Pacific Coliseum on Saturday evening (Sept. 27), with Indian megastar actor Shahrukh "King" Khan in the house, along with Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, rappersinger Yo Yo Honey Singh, singer Kanika Kapoor and others.
The show promises to deliver extensive use of pyrotechnics, a moving LED light show, stunts and special effects.
The Happy New Year film team, led by Khan, will headline the event, which is billed as "the biggest Bollywood extravaganza of all times."
The SLAM! event is produced by California's DBR Entertainment in partnership with a group of Surrey-based people, including Mona Matta, of Verka Foods International.
"This is one of the biggest Bollywood extravaganzas on tour here, ever," Matta said.
"This is something that's never before happened here in Vancouver - a one-ofa-kind show.... I'm a huge fan myself, and when the opportunity presented itself to be a part of this amazing event, we did not hesitate to get involved."
The show comes on the heels of the Times of India Film Awards, which hit Vancouver in April 2013.
According to DBR Entertainment's Dave Atwal, it was "King" Khan himself who handpicked Vancouver for this weekend's event - the kind that would typically be held in Toronto, not here on the West Coast, he noted.
"When he picked out all the six concert (locations for the tour in North America), he picked Vancouver....He could have done all in the U.S. only," said Atwal, adding that other SLAM 2014 tour locations include San Jose, New Jersey, Chicago, Houston and Washington, D.C.
"After TOIFA, Vancouver is a much, much bigger base - multiculturally, everything," said Atwal.
"I think in future, Vancouver will be No. 1 for North America for any kind of Indian concert."According to Atwal, the industry has already "shifted from L.A. to (Vancouver)," with Indian film crews first opting to shoot in B.C., whereas it used to be producers' third choice after California and Toronto.
"TOIFA took it to a different level," said Atwal.
Although Khan performed a few numbers at TOIFA in April 2013, Atwal noted, the last time he held a full concert in Vancouver was in 2004 as part of his "Temptations" tour.
Tickets for Saturday's SLAM! show range from $86 to $445 and can be purchased at Ticketleader.ca/events/slam and also Sulekha.com.
with file from Larissa Cahute, Vancouver Desi