Moonwalking in Mumbai

From gifting him a Ganesha to the death threat received, Wizcraft’s Sabbas Joseph recalls the pop star’s show in Mumbai.

“We always do a little bit of homework when we go to meet a celebrity, but when it came to Michael Jackson all our calculations went wrong — we never knew the pop star was influenced by India so much!

It was during January-end of 1996 that I along with my team went to meet Jackson in his home in Los Angeles. We were supposed to meet with him and finalise his plans of visiting India. I had carried a small Ganesha idol with me that I planned to gift to him.

When I gifted it to him, he cried out, ‘Oh Ganesha! It’s supposed to bring me luck, isn’t it?’ Michael lovingly took the small Ganesha idol and told me that he will keep it with him. We then learnt that his official photographer and his cook were all Indian. He immediately agreed to come over to India with his entourage.

The Mumbai police had arranged for unprecedented security arrangement when his jet touched down. Sonali Bendre did a small aarti at the airport when Michael came out of his jet and Raj Thackeray was the first one to shake hands with him and welcome him to Mumbai. We then quickly ushered him in the car. When we told Michael that the Mumbai police have received an intelligence report that anticipates a threat to his life, he said, ‘If it is just anticipation and a threat, let us go ahead with the show.’ As organisers, we heaved huge sigh of relief.”