SOUTH AFRICA: Bollywood comes to Africa in a bold and beautiful stage show extravaganza - with an African tale

Record ID: 356023

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: Bollywood comes to Africa in a bold and beautiful stage show extravaganza - with an African tale
  • Date: 23rd February 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR AND DANCER LOUISE FRAQUET-GOLDING SAYING: "We learn a lot through different cultures, if we're open-minded. You grow a lot, you learn to accept one another - who they are - and you respect one another as well through dance and acting."
  • Embargoed: 10th March 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA63S20P2AZIADN035AKL57FX0
  • Story Text: Bollywood has come to Africa. In what is billed as a first for the continent, the Bollywood recipe of glamour, melodrama, interwoven narratives and of course a happy ending, has been written into an Africa setting, and put on stage by none other than well known producer Anant Singh and award-winning Durban-based theatre and film director, Junaid Ahmed.
    Bombay Crush, which provides audiences with a spectacular visual feast, contains all the familiar Bollywood ingredients like star-crossed lovers, angry parents, love triangles, conniving villains, long-lost relatives separated by circumstance, dramatic reversals of fortune, and convenient coincidences.
    But according to producer Anant Singh, it is also an important tool for political reconciliation.
    "What we were trying to do is use the entertainment medium as a means to reconciliation and I think that people and individuals on their own do want to live in peace and harmony together," said Singh.
    The script, created by Ahmed, based on original material written by Ahmed and internationally acclaimed writer Achmat Dangor (nominated for last year's prestigious Booker Prize), revolves around two principal characters- one from India and the other from Durban.
    The result, say the creators, is unique. While remaining true to the Bollywood formula of storytelling, the show is also infused with a South African spirit. Dance styles range from glamourous and sexy Bollywood extravaganza and lyrical, emotive contemporary styles to an array of classical Indian dances such as Manipuri, athletic marital art dances of the northern regions, rousing folk and village dances such as those from Punjab and Gujarat. Local flavour comes in the form of stick dance, hip hop, Bhangra, jazz and tap dance, with a smattering of traditional Zulu.
    As in Bollywood movies, the songs typically comment on the action taking place in the production, in several ways. Songs are worked into the plot, so that a character has a reason to sing; other times, a song is an externalization of a character's thoughts.
    The costumes were designed through a South Africa/ India collaboration, with all the glitz, glamour and style associated with Bollywood.
    The team also brought some acting talent like - Guarev Chopra, who was enthusiastic about the interpretation of Indian choreography - from the sub-Continent to Africa. The production team spent a lot of time in India, researching costume design, music and dance and his hoping their hard work pays off.
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