Beyond Bollywood Spices Up The West End

By Stuart Black Last edited 110 months ago
Beyond Bollywood Spices Up The West End
bolly.jpg
Ana Ilmi as Shaily.
Ana Ilmi as Shaily.
Moht Mathur as Raghav.
Moht Mathur as Raghav.

After a sell-out season in Mumbai, new musical Beyond Bollywood is set to get theatregoers in London doing the 'pigeon-head' as the show arrives at the Palladium for 60 performances in May.

The show’s story revolves around an old woman’s dying wish for her daughter living in Munich to visit the family’s homeland in India. Stories in Bollywood epics are usually accompanied with the riot of dance, music and colour — all of which are promised here in a show conceived by several big Bollywood names.

The musical is written, choreographed and directed by Rajeev Goswami who has been both a pop star and choreographer in Mumbai, while the book is by Irfan Siddiqui, one of India's most famous lyricists who has a string of Bollywood film credits and has also worked on Hindi translations of the first two High School Musical films. Also involved with the music is composing duo Salim-Sulaiman, who have scored countless films and also made a Bombay (re)mix of Lady Gaga’s Born This Way.

Rajeev Goswami told Londonist: "The show is a one-stop-shop about India — with culture, colour, dance, design, music and folk tradition. Even though it's about Bollywood, we wanted to use that to teach something deeper about the culture it came from."

The show features a range of traditional dances including Bihu, Garba, Kathak, Lezim, Bhangra and Kalbelia, so if you want to get ahead of the game you should probably think about learning a few moves (here’s a handy BBC guide).

Beyond Bollywood runs from 8 May – 27 June 2015. Tickets are on sale now priced £25-£75 though to buy them you'll have to negotiate the show's website, which cannot seem to keep still.

Last Updated 15 January 2015