Bollywood blockbuster Bharati 2 spans cultural divide
Dancer signed up for sequel after playing title role more than 1,000 times
After playing the title role in the big Bollywood stage show, Bharati, more than 1,000 times, dancer-actress Bhavna Pani might easily have decided to hang up her sari. But no, with only a little reflection, Pani signed up for the mammoth sequel, Bharati 2: In the Palace of Illusions, which comes to Place des Arts Dec. 2-3.
“I was doing Bharati not because of any professional commitment but because I had fallen in love with the show. It was more an emotional choice than a career choice,” Pani said during a phone interview from Mumbai, her native city.
“So when Bharati 2 happened, I was a little hesitant. I was not sure if No. 2 could match up to the enigma and beauty of No. 1. But when I heard the story and understood the plan, I was extremely confident that I should be a part of this.”
If dance shows have an equivalent to Hollywood blockbuster movies, then Bharati 2 easily qualifies. With scores of dancers and musicians, hundreds of costume changes and a visual decor that seems to jump out of a cinema screen, everything about the show is blockbuster oversized.
And it also happens that among her other artistic distinctions, poster girl Pani is a closely watched and admired movie star.
The original Bharati, which was presented at Place des Arts five years ago, toured the world for several years with marked success. Its promoters proclaim 2.5 million people saw it. When a blockbuster formula ain’t broke, you don’t fix it. Hence Bharati 2.
The new show again brings out invigorating ensemble dance numbers performed to re-orchestrated Bollywood movie tunes that are familiar to India’s many millions of movie fans. If Western audiences cannot appreciate the music’s nuances or indulge in the nostalgia that it invokes, they can nonetheless react to its hearty rhythms with easy joy.
In the original show, a young man of Indian origin who was raised in the West visits India for the first time, meets Bharati, and discovers not only her charms but also the charms of India’s ancient traditions and culture. One cannot really be a whole person, the message implied, without knowing one’s roots.
In the sequel, Bharati is a former Indian movie star who has been living in Paris for the past 18 years with her daughter, Neelam. Thoroughly European, Neelam nonetheless loves Bollywood movies and dreams of becoming a Bollywood star. When Bharati takes Neelam to India to discover her roots, Neelam secretly plans to audition for a movie starring Bollywood heartthrob King Prem Kumar.
The daughter quarrels with her mother, finds romance, and in less time than it takes to say Palace of Illusions, all of the cultural misunderstandings dividing Bharati and Neelam are resolved. The Palace of Illusions is supposed to be the Bollywood movie-making machine with its glamorous but illusory hopes, but the real illusion of Bharati 2 is making audiences believe that pontoon bridges can span canyon-wide cultural divides.
If the emotional impact of Bharati 2 is based on flimsy sentimentality, the production’s foundation still rests on solid talent. Chief choreographer Jo Jo Khan, the legendary Bollywood dance maker, also worked on the original Bharati. According to Pani, who trained from an early age in classical forms of Indian dance including Kathak, which she has taught in workshops, the main motivation for Bollywood choreography comes from the song lyrics.
“The protagonist of every song is the words. Everything initiates from the song — the colours, costumes, mood.”
As an example, Pani described the moment when Bharati fears she has lost her daughter and prays to one of the main Hindu
gods, Lord Shiva, to help find her. Bharati sings a devotional song, Satyam Shivam Sundaram, which was a hit in 1977 and the title of a popular 1978 Bollywood movie.
“It means that God is everywhere and will take care of all our problems, and it is to God that we must run whenever we have problems. The movements and expressions are based on the lyrics — very delicate hand movements, very close to Indian classical dance, which is complicated.”
Doubtless India sees many family quarrels and generational clashes along the lines of those presented in both Bharati One and Two. The West has been encroaching on India for centuries, perhaps today at even greater speed as a result of technology.
“At the moment, India has a lot of Western influences, but at the same time it’s very traditional, just like in Bharati 2,” Pani said.
Given the ongoing influence of West on East, there will no doubt be enough material for a Bharati 3.
Ballet Ouest rolls out Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker in a sparkling traditional version created in 2013 by artistic director Claude Caron. Amid colourful decor, a fine cast of 40 dancers supplemented by 80 children in brilliant costumes, it tells the story of Clara and the Nutcracker Prince. There are plenty of surprises to amuse kids in this warmly felt and carefully produced production.
Shows Dec. 3 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 4 at 2 p.m. in Centre Pierre-Péladeau, 300 de Maisonneuve Blvd. E. Tickets, $40; students/seniors, $32; children, $20. Call 514-987-6919 or www.balletouest.com.
Jane Mappin, a stalwart of Montreal’s contemporary dance scene, is presenting her trilogy created over the last three years, Je marche à côté de moi. Danced by Mappin and Daniel Firth, the three works — Lewis and Lucie (2013), A Different Code, and Ils m’ont dit (2015) — portray the difficulties caused by mental health problems and how people survive.
Shows Nov. 25-26 at 8 p.m. in the Théâtre Rouge of the Conservatoire d’art dramatique, 4750 Henri-Julien Ave. Tickets, $28.20; students/seniors $18.60. Call 514-873-4031, ext. 313, or www.admission.com.
Michelle Dorrance is the latest dance maker to breathe new life into tap dancing by performing to a variety of musical rhythms not always associated with tap. As part of the Danse Danse series, her New York-based Dorrance Dance brings her and seven other dancers along with three live musicians to Montreal for the first time in a show called ETM: Double Down, created with another veteran tap dance artist, Nicholas Van Young. A mix of the familiar and the offbeat.
Shows Dec. 1-3 at 8 p.m. in Théâtre Maisonneuve of Place des Arts. Tickets, $33.88-$67.90. Call 514-842-2112 or www.dansedanse.ca.