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Creative choreography mixed with vibrant costumes and soft humour turned a night of entertainment on its head.
It was fun-filled Bollywood invading South Africa on Thursday night at the opening night of A Passage To Bollywood.
Held at the Mandela Theatre in Jo’burg, it wasn’t long before famed choreographer and artistic director Ashley Lobo saw audiences fill up the room to see his stage musical production in action.
In true Bollywood style, the narration was mixed with vibrant Indian costumes and famed Bollywood songs, to bring together a story of love and betrayal.
The Bollywood-themed production has been running since 2015, and the 22-member dance troupe has performed all over the world from Istanbul to Israel.
The story is focused around a village boy Sandy who moves to the city of Mumbai – a densely populated city on India’s west coast formerly called Bombay – in search of work.
Once there, he befriends a group of youngsters who introduce him to Mumbai’s underworld, led by the character of Don, who takes Sandy under his wing.
Sandy falls in love with a beautiful dancer, Leela, and so the story unfolds.
The production had the audience’s feet tapping from the get-go, with each chapter of the musical production enacted to an energetic and poetic dance routine to some of Bollywood’s most iconic songs, both old and new.
The choreography did not disappoint, with the dancers perfectly in sync. Lobo has worked on films with top Bollywood actors such as Aishwarya Rai and Deepika Padukone.
Once the 70-minute show ended, guests were in for a sugary treat as an array of sweetmeats was spread out in the foyer.
There was also vegetable biryani with dhal (yellow lentil soup), and samoosas and other pastries – all washed down with a glass of white wine – to end the evening.
The show runs until Sunday, July 9 at R120 a ticket.
