Vaibhavi's musical- Merchants Of Bollywood

source link...

Gougha with Vaibhavi.

So taken in were the duo by the vivid colours and the music [of Bollywood] that they decided to do a musical production based on it. Gough, whose father was born in India, met a friend who told him to look up the then rising star, Vaibhavi Merchant, a choreographer who was making inroads in the industry.

Vaibhavi hails from a family of dancers and her grandfather, Hiralalji Merchant, was one of the top choreographers during the early days of Bollywood.

The story of The Merchants of Bollywood has some resemblance to Vaibhavi's real life. It tells the story of Shantilal Merchant (Arif Zakaria), a former choreographer of the golden era of Bollywood who gets disillusioned with the Bollywood film industry and decides to run his own dance school, teaching traditional folk dance in the deserts of Rajasthan.

His granddaughter, Ayesha (Carol Furtado), on the other hand, is lured by the archlights and wants to become a leading choreographer in Bollywood. This results in an estranged relationship between the two.

After tasting success, Ayesha returns home, hoping to make amends with her grandfather only to find out that he's dying. As there is no one left to take over from him, she decides to marry her childhood sweetheart Uday (Deepak Rawat) and take over the school, running it her way by balancing the traditional with new dance moves.

"I wanted this show not only as a platform to showcase Bollywood but also to showcase India." ? Vaibhavi

The show will feature a cast of 53 who will perform 40 years of Bollywood history in 90 minutes. There will be 1,200 costume changes, 2,500 pieces of Indian jewellery displayed and at least 50 songs performed. It will be a musical extravaganza that every Bollywood fan will love.

The musical will make its debut in Asia in conjunction with the Kuala Lumpur Festival 2009. The Merchants of Bollywood has never been performed in India although initial rehearsals were held in Mumbai's Film City.

Vaibhavi began her career as a choreographer by assisting her uncle, renowned choreographer Chinni Prakash. She then acted in a Malayalam film, Snehapoorvan Anna, but opted to continue her work as a choreographer after that. Her first solo effort as a choreographer was the song Dhol Bhaje (featuring Aishwarya Rai and Salman Khan) in the film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam which proved to be a hit and won her the prestigious National Award (for dance choreography), India's highest honour in the film world.

Her other works include O Chori from Lagaan (Aamir Khan), Kajra Re from Bunti Aur Babli (Aishwarya, Abhishek and Amitabh Bachchan) and Aaja Nachle (Madhuri Dixit).

Vaibhavi, along with Gough and Brady, were in Kuala Lumpur recently to promote The Merchants of Bollywood which will be staged at Istana Budaya in July. She said that doing this musical was nostalgic for her and though much of the story told reflected her relationship with her grandfather as well as the family's roots in classical Indian dance, the relationship with her childhood sweetheart was Gough's own imagination. Vaibhavi herself is still single.

"When I was training as a dancer, I did not know where my life was going. I did not know that I was going to become a Bollywood choreographer, and I did not know that I would ever become a part of this musical," said Vaibhavi.

Vaibhavi admits that she is a great admirer of the legendary choreographer Saroj Khan. Of the Bollywood stars she admires as dancers, Vaibhavi cites Madhuri Dixit, Rani Mukherjee and Hritik Roshan.

After touring Malaysia, The Merchants of Bollywood will proceed to perform in Beijing, Bangkok and Dubai before continuing its tours in Europe. They also plan to perform in several cities in the US next year.

The Merchants of Bollywood is presented by Asiapromote Ventures Sdn. Bhd. and LD Sports Sdn Bhd. It will be staged at Istana Budaya from July 14 to 26. For tickets, call TicketPro at 03-7880 7999 or log on to www.ticketpro.com.my.