Toronto, July 6 (IANS) Queen Elizabeth II, who is on a nine-day visit to Canada, visited the Pinewood Toronto Studios where she heard the tune of the hit song ‘Jai Ho’ from the Oscar-winning film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.
The Queen heard the ‘Jai Ho’ tune Monday while watching the filming of a three-minute film called ‘1812’, in which a group of dancers in formal British Empire dress begin a formal dance from the 19th century before abruptly breaking into a Bollywood number.
Indo-Canadian Deepa Mehta directed the short film, staged for the Queen who called her trip to the studio, the country’s biggest, ‘fantastic’. During her action-packed visit to the city, the Queen and her consort Prince Philip also visited the facilities of BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion at Waterloo near Toronto.
Flaunting the royal connection of BlackBerry which employs 14,000 worldwide, David Yach, BlackBerry’s chief technology officer, said, ‘The Royal Family uses BlackBerry. It’s a testament to our global reach.
‘Prince Andrew is the unofficial CIO of the palace. They all know about BlackBerries. We’re very proud that the Queen has chosen to come and visit us here in Waterloo.’
But according to the media, the royal couple was indifferent when the Queen was presented a new white 9700 BlackBerry.
‘She appeared indifferent. She held it gingerly in one white glove, and then quickly handed it to an aide. She lives more in the world of the tactile: of hats, pearls, nosegays, cheers and song,’ said a report.
The Queen, who is also the sovereign of Canada and is on her 22nd trip to this country since 1957, and Prince Philip had a taste of Toronto’s rare blackout also when the lights went off at Royal York Hotel while Prince Philip was presenting the Duke of Edinburgh Awards to young people. But emergency lights saved the situation.
The power outage also delayed a black-tie state dinner for the royal couple at the hotel Monday night after which she leaves for New York to address the UN General Assembly as the head of the Commonwealth.
(Gurmukh Singh can be contacted at gurmukh.s@ians.in)
