IN my four years of writing about Bollywood, I've never come across a film that has been hyped so much, and not just because it's a film starring the Bachchans.

Sarkar Raj's grandeur and the Bachchans' presence is captivating millions of fans across the globe for more than one reason.

Never before have we seen Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan promote a film on such a grand scale as they are doing with Sarkar Raj.

Every newspaper, entertainment television channel and Bollywood website is talking about Sarkar Raj and nothing else because of the numerous events surrounding the film.

Last Thursday saw a mega-event take place in Mumbai. For the first time in the history of Bollywood, a film had its background score released separately - that film was none other than Sarkar Raj and its entire cast turned out for the occasion.

Sounding excited on the day of the launch, director Ram Gopal Varma told the media: "It was because of the tremendous popularity of the Govinda Govinda theme earlier in the prequel, Sarkar, which made us take this decision."

Titled Power of Sound, the album will hit stores shortly.

A few days before the launch, the Bachchan family - who are known to be extremely religious and have often been spotted performing pujas (prayers) and visiting various temples in India - made a trip to Mumbai's famed Siddhivinayak temple.

Amitabh Bachchan, son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai walked barefoot all the way from their Juhu bungalow to the temple located nearly 15km away to attend the Kakad aarti (offerings to the Ganesha before sunrise).

Aishwarya was dressed in a simple white kurta-salwar, a traditional Indian dress, Abhishek too opted for white to beat the heat, but Big B sweated it out in his grey track suit.

Sikandar Kher, son of actor Anupam Kher and director Apoorva Lakhia, accompanied the Bachchans as they walked the miles with a large security presence in tow.

The stars spent about 20 minutes inside the temple. The street leading to the temple witnessed serpentine queues of fans who wanted a glimpse of their favourite stars as the family took blessings for Sarkar Raj from Lord Ganesha.

Earlier in 2005, Big B and Abhishek had walked to the temple for Sarkar as well, which turned out to be a huge hit, and this time they are hoping that its sequel will 'raj' (rule) at the box-office as well with blessing from the 'sarkar' (god) Siddhivinayak.

The Bachchans have travelled to Bangkok to attend the world premiere of Sarkar Raj tomorrow (Friday) at the International Indian Film Academy Awards.

From Bangkok, the party will head straight back to India - not to chill out and reflect on the success of their premiere, but to take part in an exciting yatra (journey), called the 'Sarkar Raj Yatra', that will imitate various scenes from the film in a promotional tour.

The procession will include flag wavers, bikers, jeeps and the fictional Nagre family, to which the Bachchans belong in the film, and will call by the cities of Lucknow, Hyderabad, Indore, Delhi and Mumbai.

So as the Sarkar Raj journey ends with the Sarkar Raj Yatra, the Bachchans keep moving forward.

In July the trio come together with some of the biggest names in Indian cinema on one stage for The Unforgettable Tour - a never-seen-before extravaganza which has already gripped all Bollywood-lovers across the globe.

The stage is set across six continents for what will be Bollywood's biggest night out.

I've heard the glitz and glamour combine with cutting edge technology and world class production for a spectacle that has to be seen to be believed.

This massive world tour will have scintillating joint performances by an array of Indian superstars such as Bipasha Basu, Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh and Lara Dutta and, for the first time, all three Bachchans will come together on stage too.

Another unique aspect of the tour will be The Unforgettable Television Series, a televised show that will capture all the excitement of being on the road with the biggest names in Indian showbiz and behind-thescenes action.

Fans can also track the movements of their favourite stars and read blogs and view pictures, at: www.theunforgettabletour.com.

With so much going on in the lives of the Bachchans, I'm sure they have stuck to one collective thought, namely: "Quality is never an accident: it is always the result of an intelligent effort".