FREMONT, Calif. — Amitabh Bachchan waxed philosophical about the Indian film industry and its mesmerizing effect on fans around the world at a press conference July 29.

Perched on a couch at the Hilton Hotel surrounding Bachchan were some of his costars from the “Unforgettable” tour — Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Ritiesh Deshmukh, musicians Vishal and Shekhar, and Viraf Sarkari of Wizcraft Entertainment, which is producing the ongoing “Unforgettable” tour (I-W, Aug. 1).

“We make an escapist kind of cinema,” said Bachchan.

“My father [famed poet Harivanshrai Bachchan] was asked once what was so attractive about Indian cinema, and he said, ‘It’s because you get poetic justice in three hours,’” noted the 65-year-old actor.

Indian films (Bachchan deplores the term “Bollywood”) have enjoyed growing popularity worldwide, especially in the West, where they’re no longer considered the exotic oddities they once were.

“It’s only very recently in the past eight or nine years that the West has started to appreciate our films,” said Bachchan.

“The very thing that they looked down upon, the song and dance routines, are now our USP.”

But Indian films have been widely loved in Russia, parts of Africa, Japan and Afghanistan for decades.

“The Russian girls used to come to the airport and receive us, dressed in traditional dress, with a tikka, and it was very surprising for me,” said Bachchan. “They sang our songs — obviously we have to thank Raj Kapoor for that.

“I asked one Russian man what it was that attracted him to Indian cinema, and he said, “When I come out of the theater, I have a smile on my face and a drying tear on my cheek.’

“I guess that sums up what Indian cinema is all about,” continued Bachchan, who also told a heart-warming story about his trip to Mazar-I Sharif, Afghanistan, to shoot the 1992 release “Khuda Gawah” with Sridevi. Alighting in a helicopter to meet a group of warlords there, he recalled, Bachchan found himself swept up in the arms of one particularly huge, muscled strongman.

“They told us, ‘It’s not our custom to let the feet of a guest touch the ground,’ so this man carried me all the way to our tent,” Bachchan said to widespread laughter.

Bachchan, sporting dark shades and still recuperating from a cold, was often willing to draw attention to his actor son Abhishek, who sat beside him.

Recalling his famous dance to “Kaike paan Banaraswalla” from “Don,” which Abhishek performed in tribute to his dad onstage in the “Unforgettable” show, the elder Bachchan claimed that he stole the famous moves from his son.

“‘Kaike …’ was not originally in the script of the movie,” said Bachchan. “I was shooting at Mehboob Studios, and I took Abhishek, who was just a toddler, to the film set. When this song used to play, he used to start moving, and I’d watch him,” said Bachchan, making the familiar arm gesture with his finger pointed in the air.

Chimed in Abhishek proudly, “My dad used to copy me!”

Abhishek Bachchan, who along with Deshmukh was making his live show debut with “Unforgettable,” said he was thrilled to get the chance to meet fans around the world. “This entire endeavor was to put our best foot forward,” he said. “The minute we step out on stage, the audience is so loud and appreciative that we don’t want to leave. You will notice Ritiesh and I were always crashing each other’s acts.”

Deshmukh, for his part, said that the most exciting thing about the show so far was getting to perform with Madhuri Dixit. “I have the hugest crush on her!” he said.

Vishal and Shekhar, the composers of the soundtrack to “Om Shanti Om,” said that Bachchan had recorded his own song for their soundtrack to the upcoming big budget fantasy “Aladin.” “You have to hear the song Mr. Bachchan has done,” said Shekhar Ravjiani. “Our confidence just goes up and up.”

Aishwarya Rai, who was in stylish jeans, a simple lightweight brown jacket and five-inch wedge heels (the better to be seen next to her 6’3” husband, Abhishek), reflected on what goes through her mind in the moments before she goes onstage to dance before thousands of people. Before each show on the “Unforgettable” tour, the stars hold hands and pray in silence for a few moments before shouting, “It’s showtime!”

“What goes through my mind is some nervousness,” Rai told India-West. “But it’s a good kind of nervousness. It doesn’t make you shut down. It makes you want to do your best — it’s about going out there to do what we’ve all planned to do. We’ve all put so much planning into this show.”

Rai revealed that she has put several plans on the back burner since getting married to Abhishek in April 2007.

Rai will be seen in early 2009 in “Pink Panther 2,” costarring with Steve Martin and John Cleese, and is reportedly in production for Roland Joffe’s “Singularity” and Zachary Coffin’s “Bhopal Movie.”

She also holds the Indian distribution rights to the Weinstein Company-produced 2007 thriller “The Last Legion,” in which she starred as a sword-wielding warrior.

But she says she has curtailed her projects to enjoy married life. “I have the rights to release ‘The Last Legion,’ but my focus was on getting married,” she said.

Rai has also stayed at a distance from her official Web site, Aishwarya-Forever.com, which has not been updated since the release of “Jodhaa-Akbar” last November.

“The site is on hold for reconstruction,” she explained. “My life is under reconstruction! But soon, we will launch a fun site about the whole [Bachchan] family.”

Asked by India-West if the new site would be as busy as the old one was in debunking rumors about Rai, the actress laughed, and said, “We’ll stay very busy!”

Amitabh Bachchan, on the other hand, has been extremely active in his blog. “It’s a part of my daily activity, like brushing my teeth.”

“The instant connection you get with people is amazing,” he said. “It’s been very revealing for me. We seldom know what the fans are thinking.”

Bachchan’s blog, at BigB.bigadda.com, is unmoderated, he said. “This gives the fans the opportunity even to be abusive toward us, which is fine.”