Mumbai choreographer Nisha Mahendra managed
to find just the right balance between high energy and cleverly crafted
patterning. (Review by Lliane Loots)
The much-anticipated latest theatrical
venture from Durban’s Rowin Verne Munsamy, Bombay
Chasers, opened on Friday May 17, 2019, at the Sibaya iZulu Theatre to much
excitement. A full house greeted the cast which is no mean accomplishment at a
time when live theatre in Durban is struggling for audiences to sustain itself.
Bombay
Chasers continues Munsamy’s theatrical love
relationship with the Bollywood film industry and with the genre we all now
refer to simply as “Bollywood”. Prevalent in the genre is the heightened
emotions of star-crossed lovers, meddling mothers and/or grandmothers, divine
intervention from the gods, peer/sibling rivalry, and – of course – the epic
dance numbers with costumes that make us want to weep in envy for the sheer
bling they offer.
Munsamy’s Bombay Chasers offer all of this to the audience and is a very
interesting attempt to see how an essentially filmic genre can translate onto
stage and into live performance. Munsamy used some clever devices such a series
of split projections screens at the back of the stage which offer constant
filmic scene changes for the various locations in the play thus offering a
bridge between the translations of film onto stage. And while the sharp
attention to technical preparedness and detail was perhaps missing on opening
night – very slow scene changes that caused the play’s rhythm to drop, and some
blatantly botched lighting cues – Bombay
Chasers did indeed offer a thought-provoking foray into the film vs live
theatre debate.
The play begins with a rousing dance
invocation to Lord Ganesha – the Hindu God who is often prayed to as the deity
who removes obstacles. In an interesting linking device that frames the play,
Munsamy then plays the very human manifestation of Ganesha whose wisdom and
stories offer a kind of commentary on the actions of the play. It is a
beautiful device (and Munsamy personally shines in this role) and offers space
for the audience to reflect on the narrative of the play within a more karmic
and spiritual light. Ganesh does indeed become the deus-ex-machina that saves
the day at the end of the play.
The storyline offers an interesting link
between South African Indian Diaspora culture and the links to the ‘motherland’
of India. Basically put a group of young South African Indian dancers are on
their way to India to dance at the open of an Indian 20/20 cricket match – it
is a prestigious invitation and the play centres on the situation comedy of
plans often going wrong. Interspliced into all of this is a love story between
two of the young dancers whose commitment is challenged when a femme fatal in
India decided she wants this South African man! The anticipated Bollywood
clichés abound – with all the usual fat jokes about the loud and uncouth older
female chaperone. The audience, clearly well-versed in these anticipated
Bollywood stereotypes, fell about laughing and enjoying the predictable and
recognisable characters.
What was particularly noteworthy within
this dazzling production were the dance sequences. Guest Mumbai choreographer
Nisha Mahendra hit the mark on each and every number she created. She managed
to find just the right balance between high energy and cleverly crafted
patterning. The young talented cast really shone in this arena and offered the
audience a foot-tapping visual feast of extremely well-coordinated and executed
dance. It made me – and I suspect many of the audience - want to get up and
dance with them!
This theatrical Bollywood extravagance sits
at just over two hours (with an interval). For me, I would have liked, perhaps,
to see some of the stock character stereotyping to be challenged, but I am also
aware that the full house on opening night enjoyed every last minute of what
they recognised as Bollywood on stage.
Bombay
Chasers was directed and written by Rowin Verne
Munsamy and produced by Sumanth Singh. – Lliane Loots
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