Monday 20 July 2009

The Merchants of Bollywood

http://merchantsofbollywood.com.au/aus/

Ms Fantaghiro, me and my sis were at Istana Budaya last Thursday to watch "The Merchants of Bollywood". Aku mati-mati ingat this is another hindustani concert like the ones that Shah Rukh Khan lip sync to but this is actually a musical theatre.

It is taken from the true life story of Ayesha Merchant (yes, its a family name), who is the granddaughter of Shantilal Merchant from Rajasthan. Shantilal was one of the great choreographers during the great film industry - those days of Bobby and Chalte Chalte. But he had retired and was preserving the Kathak, dance for the God. The family were to uphold the tradition. But Ayesha had other ideas, she also wanted to be a great choreographer in Bollywood. So against her grandfather's wishes, she left the temple for Bollywood. She became a great choreograhper, and decided to make amends with her grandfather. She goes back to Rajasthan, found her childhood sweetheart Uday, marries him and met her dying grandfather and finally decided to stay in Rajasthan.

That's as far as the storyline goes. Well it's not much of a storyline, I must say. This play is purely for entertainment, and boy, the dance moves are superb! It is Bollywood and much more. The dances are refined, and Uday, the lead male dancer, is excellent. When he did his backflip from the tempel stairs, that was hot! Very extravagant show, more than 30 dancers on the stage for one song and the costumes are glittery, sexy, flesh baring and all that. Aiya, susah lah mau explain thru writing. Best viewed to get accurate experience.

Anyway, it was cute when emcee of the night, Dato' Mahathir Lokman said at the beginning of the show "sit back and enjoy the show. Clapping and dancing are most welcomed". Some girls in the front seat were enjoying themselves so much that they were standing up and dancing to the songs. Very enjoyable, but for those with limited knowledge of Bollywood songs, might be disappointed that familiar mainstream Hindi songs from Kuch2 Hota Hai/Mohabbatein/Kabhi Kushie Kabhie Gham/etc were not in the play. But you will enjoy it nonetheless.
This I guarantee you.

*Strictly for those who loves hindi songs and dance moves.

2 comments:

fantaghiro said...

Dhoom Machale!! hehehehehehe...
Uday is HOT man...

Beautiful Life said...

I concur!!