From Bollywood to Broadway: Indian musical Mughal-E-Azam hits the stage in Vancouver
Broadway-inspired Indian musical makes a stop at Queen Elizabeth theatre on August long weekend
The inside of Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Theatre is being transformed into a decadent Indian palace for the weekend as a Broadway-style musical theatre performance is in town for a three-day run, Friday, Aug. 4 to Sunday, Aug. 6.
Mughal -E-Azam: The Musical, is based on K. Asif's 1960 Bollywood epic by the same name, and has been on a North America tour this year after kicking off in India in 2016.
The movie was one of the highest grossing films in India in the 60s, featuring music, dancing and battle scenes to tell the story of star-crossed lovers Prince Salim and court dancer Anarkali in their struggle to be together — even by waging war.
The story is set in the 16th century during the rule of the Mughal empire, a dynasty that controlled northern India from the 16th to 18th century.
"It's a story that threatened the empire," said Feroz Abbas Khan, the director and creative visionary behind this musical.
'Something magical happens'
Khan, a renowned Indian theatre and film director, says the 1960 movie revolutionized Hindi cinema by breaking certain barriers.
"It's a film that gave vocabulary of love to a lot of people who didn't know even [know] how to express love," said Khan.
Khan says the lack of musical theatre productions in India, despite its reputation as a musical society, inspired him to bring the story of the movie to the live stage.
"We do create some extraordinary plays but when it comes to a musical theatrical production, we don't have those kind of productions."
While the team has performed more than 250 shows, Neha Sargam, who plays the protagonist Anarkali, says it doesn't feel like that.
"Once we are on stage, we forget that we have to sing, we have to act. We just go with the flow. The dresses become light. Something magical happens on stage," said Sargam.
Just like the 1960 film was the most expensive for its time, this musical is one of the most expensive to come out of India with costumes designed by renowned Indian fashion designer Manish Malhotra.
Aanand Dawda, the executive producer of the North American tour of the musical, says it's a mammoth-sized production, which they had to figure to take on the road.
"We have nine trucks traveling with all the equipment, all the gears, all the set, all the flooring, all the lighting, all the projection and about 150 people travelling on the tour," said Dawda.
Kamal Sharma, the local promoter for the show and the principal behind the KVP Entertainers, says while he feels proud that the production is making a stop in Vancouver given the sizeable South Asian population in the region, the show is for everyone as the show comes with English subtitles.
And Sharma has one piece of advice for those who are attending — dress for the occasion.
"You should dress for a theatre production and of course this being such high one, you should come at the best of your attire."
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