Bollywood show takes audience to a new world
Roller-coaster romance is a thrilling India adventure
The costumes are eye-catching. The dances are dazzling. And, boy, does Mikhail Sen get tired. Yet, not as tired as the dozen of members of the touring show “Taj Express: The Bollywood Musical Revue.”
“I’m fortunate in that I don’t have to dance because I’m the narrator,” he says. “We had two shows in St. Louis a couple of days ago and it didn’t faze any of the dancers.”
The traveling show has been touring for five years, and has hit places like Russia and Turkey, to name a few.
This production was produced, directed and choreographed by The Merchants, Vaibhavi and Shruti, two members of famed Bollywood families that have been mainstays in the film industry for generations.
Many of the scores are composed by Oscarwinner AR Rahman, as well as Salim-Sulaiman Merchant and Monty Sharma.
The musical tells the story of a young aspiring Indian composer, Shankar, who is given his first big break in the film business to create the music for a brand new Bollywood movie, “Taj Express.” Music is the key factor in the success of a Bollywood movie.
Shankar dreams of writing a song as successful as Rahman’s Oscar-winning smash hit “Jai Ho,” featured in the movie, “Slumdog Millionaire.”
Writing the music for “Taj Express” is Shankar’s big opportunity to claim his own victory.
Shankar invites the audience into his studio and his creative world to share the secrets of how this Bollywood movie is made. He takes the audience through the script, page by page, making the music for each character and event in this roller-coaster romance.
Sen says the musical is a love story between Kareena, a beautiful actress, and Arjun, a handsome hero of the streets.
At first, it seems that they are both from opposite worlds, but their love of dance brings them together. Arjun rescues young people from the streets and offers them a training in classical dance. Kareena longs for freedom from the pressures of being a celebrity and a showbiz relationship that her producer is forcing her to adopt for publicity.
Traveling on board one of India’s iconic steam engines, Arjun and Kareena escape on a thrilling adventure across this colorful, exotic and magical land.
The journey takes them from the film studios of Mumbai to the southernmost tip of India, from the temples of Varanasi to the fields of Punjab, ending with a fabulous wedding in the Royal Palaces of Rajasthan.
“It’s a story within a story,” he says. “The production for the United States has been updated from the original. The narrative has changed a bit, yet the audience is still transported to another world that many of them have never seen before.”
Sen says there are over 2,000 pieces of costuming, which helps make the show shine.
“The attention to detail is so high,” he says. “This is my first Bollywood production to be involved with and I’m excited to see everything changing. It’s amazing to travel the world and perform.”