Indian musical cast wow international audience
(No Ratings Yet)They might not be Bollywood actors, dancers or playback singers of repute, but command a fan following which can give any star a complex.
Meet the caste of broadway-style musical ‘Bharti’ which has been running to packed houses in Europe over the past one year.
Back home these actors, dancers, singers and choreographers were struggling artistes participating in talent hunt shows and giving auditions in various production houses but overnight they have achieved fame in a continent which is known for its aversion to anything foreign.
The show which has toured numerous cities in Europe, including Paris and this industrial town in Switzerland, is a Broadway-style musical comprising song and dance numbers from all time Bollywood hits.
The narration, which carries the show through, however, is always in the local language of the area. Thus in Paris it was in French, in Zurich in German and in Israel it was in Hebrew.
“We are overwhelmed at the response which we get wherever we go,” says Gashaz Deshe, the Israeli Director and one of the producers of the show which was staged here over the weekend.
For the Indian cast, however, it has been a dream run. Says Delhi-based model Gagan Malik, the main actor in the show, “I was already a well established model back in Delhi when I got this offer. Suprisingly it has turned out to be the best career move of my life with the kind of response the show is generating.”
According to Malik, who was adjudged Mr Photogenic in the Grasim Mr India contest in 2004, the show was not targetted at NRI audiences but the native populace of the region and was aimed at familiarising them with India. Similar for Bhawna Pani, spotted in the Nirma detergent TV commercial, who has become a celebrity of sorts here. “I have been a dancer all my life but have never received this kind of recognition anywhere”.
Script writer Kamlesh Pandey of ‘Rang De Basanti’ fame, who has penned the story for the musical extravaganza, says he has attempted to blend the evergreen Bollywood love story with a patriotic fervour to present India to the outside world.
“And the poeple here have lapped it up as is evident from the over 5,000 people attending the show in every city and the kind of standing ovation they give after the performance,” he said.
“We want to get the show to India as well but cannot do it soon as the kind of stage props and technology required for the huge show is not available back home,” says Abhijit Sarkar of ‘Sahara India Parivar’, the producers of the show.
Conceptualised as a broadway muscial, the performace relies on live performances by singer and musicians. The songs used, however, keep on changing. “For example in Israel we used the Raj Kapoor hit ‘Ichak Dana Beechak Dana’ despite it being a very old number as it is very popular there,” Deshe says.
“We plan to take the show elsewhere and across the world and to English speaking Autralia, US and UK in the next leg,” Sarkar says.
— PTI
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