Lighting designer Atul Sonpal used 30 Robe ColorSpot 1200 AT fixtures, 26 Robe Wash 575 XTs, 12 Robe Scans, four Robe Smoke Machine, and eight Robe FiberBeam fixtures for the massive Temptation show at the Indira Gandhi Stadium, Delhi, India, last December.
The Temptation tour–one of the highest profile events in Bollywood–is a multi-star extravaganza with more than 30 performances across the globe. The show was organized by superstar Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) to raise funds and awareness for the National Access Campaign launched by National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP). Temptation 2005 featured performances from India’s A-List Bollywood stars, including superstar SRK, Zayed Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Rani Mukherji, and the ‘disco baby’ Priety Zinta. It was attended by an audience of 20,000 and marked the first time SRK performed in his hometown.
The show was produced by Red Chille Productions and produced by Cineyug Entertainment, Mumbai. All lighting equipment was supplied by Sonpal’s company, Jagmag Electric, also based in Mumbai.
Sonpal has lit many of Bollywood’s most illustrious extravaganzas, including more than 40 Temptation shows around the world last year–using Robe moving lights for most of them. The proceeds of the Temptation tour will go to charity and be used to extend support for the rights of 70 million disabled people.
For the Delhi show, Sonpal wanted to produce something very impressive for visuals. “I wanted to create an epic feel to the stage with the lighting to mirror the atmosphere of the whole occasion,” explains Sonpal, who is possibly the best known LD and operator in India.
His rig was arranged over five trusses, with Robe fixtures positioned on all of them–front, mid, rear, and two sides.
He chose Robe fixtures because of the brightness, good optics, and zoom facilities. The powerful ColorSpot 1200s were utilized for a variety of effects including beam patterns, colorful gobo texturing onto the stage floor, and dramatic wide audience sweeps. “I maximized the excellent gobo range, took full advantage of the brightness, and really worked all the fixtures hard throughout the performance,” Sonpal says. The FiberBeams complimented the1200s and 575s and provided colorful ‘eye candy’ effects.
Sonpal programmed and ran the show himself using an Avolites Diamond 4 console and a Pearl 2000
Two other Temptation 2005 shows have been staged in India, one at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore and the other at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Delhi – both also lit by Sonpal, again using Robe. “I would not want to do a show without them,” he declares.