Apr 18, 2018
FREMONT, Calif. — Salman Khan fans, don’t fret just yet; the “Da-Bangg The Tour: Reloaded” concert will be happening as per schedule. The show’s international and local promoters sought to calm frayed nerves and silence rumors during a press conference held April 12 at Sakoon Restaurant here. Khan’s “Da-Bangg The Tour: Reloaded” is scheduled for June 30 at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. The starry lineup includes actresses Katrina Kaif, Sonakshi Sinha, Jacqueline Fernandez, Daisy Shah, dance master Prabu Deva, singer/songwriter Guru Randhawa, and actor Manish Paul. Khan, one of Bollywood’s biggest stars, was convicted April 5 and sentenced to five years in prison for killing two rare blackbucks while he was in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, working on a film in 1998. But the popular, high net-worth star was granted bail April 7, and fans, from Jodhpur to Mumbai, celebrated his release, by setting off firecrackers. The San Jose concert is being presented by Golden Touch Production LLC, the main partners of which are Deep Vohra of V.I.P Travels Inc., Bhavini Joshi of Instant Karma, Prasad and Vijaya Aasuri of V7 group, Sanjay Prabhakar of Shalimar Sunnyvale, and Sanjeev Masih of Sacramento group. The local organizers were joined by the national promoter, Bhavesh Patel, and Adil Jagmagia and Jordy Patel (also Khan’s manager) of JA Events, who have conceptualized the tour – which began in 2017 covering Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, and U.K. – along with Sohail Khan. “It has been a testing last ten days for us with what happened with Salman back in India,” said Jordy Patel. “We are very positive about the show and that’s why we are here. We will put up a great show, a spectacle that probably people haven’t witnessed before. We have worked really hard and what happened in the last few days was unfortunate and that is not deterring us in any way.” “We are hopeful and very confident that it will settle down and we shall be here in June and July for the show,” he added. As conditions for his bail, CNN quoted one of his attorneys, Anand Desai, as saying that Khan has been banned from traveling outside India without the court’s permission and has to appear before the court May 7. Jordy Patel said while that was true, Khan as such doesn’t have any restrictions on his travel. “Salman doesn’t have a restriction to travel,” stressed Patel. “It’s just that we have to inform the court where and when he is travelling...There were rumors that a song for ‘Race 3’ was to be shot abroad and now it’s being shot in India. We were never supposed to go abroad for it. We were contemplating where to shoot the song. It was impossible to shoot abroad not because of Salman but for getting a visa in such a short time after coming back from Abu Dhabi for the entire unit of 200 people. Schengen visa takes 20-25 working days in India.” Patel added that two of the actresses were travelling abroad so they couldn’t hand over their passports. “We have initiated all processes to get his visa here,” explained Patel. “We’ve applied for his travel permission in the Jodhpur court, which we shall have shortly. His passport was up for renewal, which doesn’t take long. And the process for the P3 visa for the entire group is as per the schedule for April 30. I cannot reiterate more the fact that the reason we are here to address the media and the public that there is no need to panic. The shows are scheduled, and we are working towards getting the visa process sorted out.” Patel went on to add that all new developments related to the travel permission and the show will be shared with the media immediately. The team also intends to hold a video conference with all the artists, including Khan. “Salman is very keen to talk to the press here and in Canada,” he said. “It was his idea that we do this with all the artists.” Patel said that Khan has gone through these events before and the hype was unnecessary. “It’s just work,” said Patel. “They cannot stop him from working. There is a lot of money riding on his films and shows. I don’t think the court will say no.” He continued: “We are trying to work as quickly as possible. The legal system in India is a bit slow but we are pushing even harder to ensure it… His legal team is working double time to get his paperwork in place. It’s not much of a deal. We just need the travel permission. We know that we need to reassure people that he is good to travel…By May 10ish or before that we should have the answer.” Throwing light on the kind of show that fans can expect, Patel said: “What you are going to see it is 25-30 percent more of what the rest of the world has seen.” Adding to that, Bhavesh Patel said: “People have already seen the previous shows on social media, so we didn’t want to portray the same shows in the U.S. and Canada. So new production set up, new costumes, and completely redone acts.” Jordy Patel also informed the Indian American media outlets that after the visa and Khan’s travel permission is secured, the team would do massive promotional activity to bring back the momentum. “I want the negativity to stop surrounding this lovely show,” he said. “We will do that by activating the media in a positive way with the correct information.” The local organizers also announced during the event that fans can purchase the tickets to the concert from ticketmaster.com, and if the show is cancelled or postponed owing to any circumstances, they will get a refund.