Where Did All the Bollywood Tours Go?

Picture this: it’s the year 2002, and heartthrob Hrithik Roshan is fresh off his superhit debut, Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000) and you have the opportunity to see him in person, alongside Karisma and Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal. What would you do? Well, if you were then 21-year-old New Orleans resident Rinku Vaishnav, you’d call your mom and your college roommate, pack your bags, and drive five hours to Houston, the nearest tour stop. “The drive was worth it, just to experience the tour, just to see those superstars, what they were at the time,” Vaishnav told The Juggernaut. 

Indeed, in the 1990s and early 2000s, superstars Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukerji, Aishwarya Rai, and more flew around the world — including the U.S., U.K., Dubai, Indonesia, and South Africa. Thousands would pack arenas to watch stars dance, interact, and just put on a show. You’d walk home thinking that your favorite actor might have seen you, waved, and said “I love you” to you personally. 

While kids today line up for hours to secure tickets for Taylor Swift, Charli XCX, Diljit Dosanjh, or Shreya Ghoshal, Bollywood tours like Temptations or Heartthrobs have all but disappeared. The Juggernaut spoke to tour organizers, scholars, and attendees to find out what made this moment in time so special — and why we don’t have them anymore.