The Unforgettable tour, which was cancelled in Vancouver, has turned out to be a multi-million-dollar show for everyone else concerned.

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan and his entourage earned $743,000 per performance, while $1-million in tickets were sold in Chicago alone.

A prominent promoter had earlier turned down the show because fees for the stars were so high he feared he would not be able to break even. Bollywood concerts, despite the hoopla, generally make slim profits.

"It is not really a financially profitable business," said one organizer. "It basically boils down to being associated with glamour."

However, the Big B’s Unforgettable show in Chicago attracted thousands to see the superstar perform along with his son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai.

Promoters said they were able to cover the high expenses because more than 11,000 people, some from as far away as Florida and Ohio, flocked to see the Bollywood legend.

Amitabh got a thunderous ovation when he made his entry and the entire audience rose to its feet every time he performed, staying standing on one occasion for more than 30 minutes as Bachchan danced to his songs and delivered dialogues from films like Deewar, Agneepath and Silsila.

The show also featured Preity Zinta, Ritesh Deshmukh and music directors Vishal and Shekhar, who were all relegated to the sidelines. Jaya Bachchan appeared on the stage to make a plea for a campaign against global warming.

The success of the show took even regular Bollywood concert promoters in the U.S. by surprise. A combination of the Big B’s star power and the audience’s nostalgia appeared to have attracted the crowds.

Amitabh said the audience’s enthusiasm gave the stars the energy.

"There were two unforgettable moments for me on this tour," he said, "One, the audience at all our performances was incredible and second the press (in the U.S.) has been very kind and generous."

This, he said, was in contrast to the "habitually negative press" he received in India. Several newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, ran prominent articles about him.

At a press conference, he was humility personified, apologizing for being late, and patiently allowing photographs.

Meanwhile, Ethnic Guru, the promoters of the show in Canada, denied reports that ties with tour organizers Wizcraft International Entertainment have been severed.

Ethnic Guru called these reports rumours put out by "competing promoters and other interests".

``We continue to work with Wizcraft on a number of other projects and the relationship between our two companies remains solid,’’ Ethnic Guru told IANS in a written statement. ``It’s obvious that many of the competing promoters and their affiliated media outlets in Canada have been annoyed by the fact that a high profile concert of this stature did not come through their efforts. It is no secret that every effort has been made by them to discredit the Tour and its promoters at all levels.’’

The Toronto-based promoters denied the Vancouver show was cancelled due to poor ticket sales.

"The cancellation of the concert was a mutual decision between the Global Promoter and us, based upon a number of logistic reasons,’’ they said.