I had the pleasure last night of going and seeing one of the best live shows I have seen in a long time.as the title suggests it was called Merchants of Bollywood.
The show was a mixture of live dance and dialogue,telling the story of the Merchant family,and how they 'created' Bollywood choreography to get it to the state that it is today.It revolves around the lives of the Merchant family and the relationship between Ayesha and her grandfather.Starting off with scenes from dance and fim styles through the 40's,50's and 60's - and how it progressed through til today.
Ayesha went on to become one of the most revered choreographers in Bollywood today.
The show features a cast of 65,with approximately 40 dancers on stage at one time.They performed dances from songs such as "Shava Shava" from KKKG to a Rajasthan medley featuring the 'spinnin drummers' (who were amazing) to "its the time to disco".
The leading lady dancer was a lady called Carol Furtado,and she was excellent,and the male was played by Deepak Rawat.This guy has exceptional talent.The show was only in Durban for 2 days.It was playing at the convention centre which is a 4000 seater venue.Both nights sold out so quickly that they added an ectra 2 nights which sold out just as fast.This is apparently the 3rd world tour that this show has had.If I had the chance I would go and see the show again,as I have always been a fan of Indian dance ,including classical or kathak dancing - I find it very mysterious and alluring.
All the dancers come from the Mumbai films academy and when you watch them dance,its easy to see why.
The shows apparently took 2 years to develop and 6 months to rehearse.
For whoever reads this,I would highly recommend this show to eveeryone.It is money well spent !!!
