RAJAT KAPOOR: CLOWN PRINCE OF INDEPENDENCE

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Vi ripropongo la lunga intervista concessa da Rajat Kapoor a Rukshana Tabassum, pubblicata il 2 settembre 2015 da India Independent Films: Clown Prince Of Independence. Di seguito un corposo estratto:

'How did ‘Ankhon Dekhi’ happen? (...)

I had it for 2-3 years, kept meeting people, they liked it but - you know. And one day, I finally tweeted saying: to hell with all the producers; I’m going to start a new play instead. So I get a tweet back from a gentleman called Manish Mundra saying, “Sir, I’m a big fan. I’ll produce your film.” So I obviously tweeted back thinking it was a joke, and that he couldn’t possibly be serious about such a thing on twitter; gave him my phone number just in case. He called me, telling me that he is based in Dubai and Nigeria, and asked about the budget. 4 crores, I said. No problem, I’ll do it. I pleaded with him not to joke around, and that this has happened to me way too often; people agree and just disappear. At least read the script, how can you just say ‘yes’? He read it, came to Mumbai to meet me - very nice man - and in the intervening few weeks, he had seen all my interviews and had learned everything about me. All he said was, “Sir, you don’t have to prove yourself to me. I have to prove myself to you. Let’s sign the dotted line.” And boom! Just like that, Ankhon Dekhi had a producer.

Have things been easier after you made the film? For your next script?

Not really. Things only become easier when your film makes money. And Ankhon Dekhi, unfortunately, did not make money. So, back to the same old shit. Things had become easier for me just for a brief while, around 2 or 3 years after Bheja Fry. Because the film made so much money, and was made on a shoestring budget. (...) For two years, life was relatively easier in terms of work opportunities; producers were actually chasing me for those few years (laughs). So you live like you’re in a dream - Wow, I’ve arrived! And boom, it crashes, and you’re back to square one. Which is fine, really. I’m not complaining. (...) This is something one has chosen for oneself. When I chose this, I knew very clearly what the consequences would be. It was never going to be easy. (...) The biggest and most hurtful wait is between films. When one is making a film, it’s absolute joy, whether you’re shooting, editing or doing sound - it’s all a big high. Or even showing your film. (...) I’ve seen it [Ankhon Dekhi] 50 times with audiences all over the world and within India. And the love I get out of it - I can’t even begin to tell you - I haven’t gotten as much love in my life as I did for Ankhon Dekhi. People just connect at various levels, or find depth in it; they just come out and hug me. It’s really very nice and priceless, and I’m very grateful for that... (...) But the awareness of Ankhon within the industry is still very low. They don’t even know of its existence. General audiences are more aware, but within the industry... nothing.

So when you were making Ankhon Dekhi, did you have a particular audience in mind?

I don’t think you make films like that. I don’t think anyone should make films like that; it’s the worst approach possible. (...)

Do you think this attitude of approaching a new script or project on their part is a big problem? Can it be fixed? (...)

The industry - before the corporates came in - knew of only one way to make a film: Who is in it? If it has Shah Rukh or Amitabh, they know that recovery is guaranteed - well, almost - because sometimes, even then, they end up losing money on big films. But somehow, they prefer to take those risks, because they’re familiar risks - rather than risk some money on a completely unknown territory. Corporates came in with a slightly better way of gauging things, and made it less about instinct, and far more streamlined. Some weren’t happy to see them come in, and some were, of course, over the moon thinking - now, things will change. BALLS. They came in and they also wanted Akshay Kumar. What is the game-changing device here? Nothing. In fact, they had lesser idea than even the individual producer - who at least might take a risk because he is not answerable to anybody. It’s his money. But with corporates, that is gone. So, I really don’t know how things will change. But somebody like Manish Mundra came in; he isn’t from this business, but has a lot of passion and his own sense of aesthetics. (...) He just reads scripts and picks some purely based on instinct. More importantly, he has deep enough pockets to lose some money. And I think that’s how independent cinema has made inroads - because of pure passion, not only from the creative team, but from the people who put in money. (...)

Do you think if more money was spent on the marketing of Ankhon Dekhi...?

We spent a lot of money on the marketing - around 3.5 to 4 crores, which is HUGE. (...) After spending all the money, we just didn’t get shows. Even the big films have become much bigger. When Bajrangi Bhaijaan releases, it comes in over 4000 screens. There is just no space left. Where do you show your film, even if you spend 20 crores on P&A? (...) That, in my opinion, is the biggest problem. Hollywood blockbusters have become as big as Indian films too. So you can’t release your film (...) anymore. There are only 52 weeks in the year. Another thing is that there’s a plethora of so-called independent, small-budget films. So, every week, you have four stupid films releasing, which aren’t really independent, but small-budget films. It’s not the same thing. They’re just really bad films, which confuses the audience even more. (...)

What about alternate distribution routes?

What are these routes exactly? They’ve been talking about digital releases, and how it’ll change the revenue model and so on - I’ve been hearing it for 10 years. Speeds will increase, revenues will increase, but really, nothing has changed. On the other hand, the DVD avenues have decreased considerably - to almost a fourth of its price. Earlier, we’d get 30 lakhs for DVD distribution rights, now we get 10. I don’t think this will change either. If people want to watch something on their phones or any mobile medium, they will still watch Sheila Ki Jawani instead of Ankhon Dekhi. For Ankhon, they will either wait for a pirated copy or when it is broadcasted for free through Satellite. And who can blame them? Even we don’t go out of our way to pay and watch movies lately. “Let’s watch Masaan, the makers are our friends” - that’s the only attitude at times. And I will go to watch what my son wants me to watch. (...) 

Is there a solution? Will things change at all?

No. There is no solution. Nothing will change. People want to watch films that help them live out their fantasies. They want to watch beautiful people making love to each other. (...) Why escape our dreary lives only to watch more dreary lives on screen?

But there have been people who watched Ankhon Dekhi and appreciated it deeply...

How many? 60,000? 80,000? That’s it, right? (...) Again, I’m not complaining. This is how it is. It won’t change. When you pay money, you want larger-than-life movies, huge extravaganzas. And it’s not only here. In Europe, the same shit is happening to independent cinema. (...) The only difference I’d say, between them and us, is that they are still supported by big stars in their country. (...) That’s not the case here. Firstly, most of our stars are bad actors; they have no ambition as artists, and definitely not enough to lend their names to smaller films.

After FTII [Film and Television Institute of India], it probably wasn’t easy to make your first film straightaway. Did you turn to theatre as sort of a creative outlet?

Even now, I still do. Before FTII, and after - it’s one way to keep working, and keep creating and evolving as an artist. (...) For about 10 years from 1991, there was no work, no opportunities to make money, nothing. (...) Yes, so after that, something very good happened.(smiles) In 1998, I got my first ad film, just by chance. (...) And they paid me 50,000 for one day’s work! Shit, man. And it freaked the hell out of me. I couldn’t believe it. This happens? Wow. So I decided to act in some more ads, and save up some money, hoping to produce my own film one day. Who needs a producer when you’re earning this kind of money, right?

How did that ad film happen though?

An actor friend of mine just called me last minute (...) to fill in for him. He had to back out of it, and I was apparently doing him a huge favour. So I went for the audition. They loved it. And then somebody else saw the ad, which eventually led to ‘Dil Chahta Hai’. It was a complete accident, because I had no intentions of becoming an actor. But I was very grateful, because for the first time, some money began to come in. Life became a little less stressful. In about 5 years - by saving around 2-3 lakhs a year - I had 15 lakhs. So I thought - let’s do this! Let me make my own film, screw the world! I went to NFDC [National Film Development Corporation], and they said they’d put 100% of what I put. I got some friends to contribute too, which sort of made it the first crowd-funded film here. Naseer saab [Naseeruddin Shah?] gave 5 lakhs, and this way, I managed to raise 25 lakhs for the film. NFDC put in 40 lakhs then, and that’s how we made Raghu Romeo. It went to Locarno, and we had a grand screening at the Piazza Grande. There were 9000 people, laughing and clapping and enjoying it. I looked at Saurabh Shukla, and we were like, what’s happening? This is so cool. We thought we had an international hit on our hands. Who can stop us now! Then it didn’t get released, we didn’t get any sales overseas, and when it finally came out in India, it bombed miserably. That was the first time I went into depression for a month. Because I had to then return those 25 lakhs, and I had no money. But over the next five years, I managed to return the amount. But even darkness resulted in some light. Sunil Doshi [produttore] saw Raghu Romeo in Locarno, and told me he had 60 lakhs to make a film with. I gave him the ‘Mixed Doubles’ script. Immediately, we shot it. Next year, one of the guys who assisted on Raghu Romeo - Sagar Ballary - said he wanted to remake this French film. So Mr. Doshi let us make ‘Bheja Fry’ too. Things looked good for a few years. Then, recession came and - finished. That’s pretty much my life’s story. Now, what else is left to ask?

I’ve wondered how you manage to come out of your theatre world to make films - the aesthetics and processes are so different. How seamless is it?

It’s completely different. Luckily, I learned filmmaking at FTII, so it was made clear to me what film aesthetics are. Of course, working with masters like Mani [Kaul] sir only helped further. My three years at FTII weren’t very easy, in the sense that, films almost became a burden on me. There was so much pressure - how could I make films at the same level as these masters? It was daunting. And Kumar [Shahani] would do these workshops and I’d not understand a damn thing, and I’d wonder - hell, what will I do in life? I’ll remain such a fool. I had no self-worth. So I was telling Chhabria saab - a beloved and respected teacher of mine - that I have to continue doing theatre. He vehemently opposed this idea. He told me that cinema and theatre were so close, and that I’ll mix up things and mess up my career. But I was convinced that I had to do theatre for my sanity. For me, there was nothing in common between the two. One is the medium of the actor, and the other is the medium of the camera - where actors are a very small part of the area. (...) Film happens through the immediacy of this moment, and theatre happens in a space where nothing exists. We make things exist with our gestures or traits. Not that I had planned it, the processes have become very different. Over the last 15 years, the 3-4 plays that I’ve done have been without a script. We’ve improvised and worked only with the idea, developing them into plays. When we did ‘C for Clowns’, I just knew that I wanted to do a film with clowns - there was nothing else. Everyday we would rehearse, and the play emerged. Hamlet was done the same way. (...) More shows in September here. Next month, I’m staring ‘As You Like It’. I’m excited, but it’s also a bit scary. With every play, or every film, you don’t know what to expect. Even with Ankhon Dekhi - we had great fun shooting it - and things just fell into place, and you see magic happening on the shoot. It’s exciting when that happens. But then, we started editing in April, and in May, ‘Fatso’ was released. Nobody liked it. I was startled. (...) After the well-appreciated ‘Mithya’, nobody liked Fatso. It was difficult to accept. So, the editing of Ankhon Dekhi became hellish for me. I didn’t know if I was going about it the right way. You never know, and you only follow your instincts. It’s difficult, because every time we take the risk of falling flat on your face. I’ve realized that when you’re writing, everything is a notion. You create characters, but they’re ideas. Then casting makes the notion more concrete. Then you go to the space, and so on. But it’s still a notion, because you plan shots - close-ups, two shots, and you’re thinking emotions will flow in a certain direction. And in the edit, when it doesn’t happen, you realize that it’s just an idea in your head. It starts becoming real only during the edit. Now there is no escape, and it’s only here that you create these emotions out of instincts and ideas. It’s always on the edit that you realize if you’ve messed up or not. That’s why the Ankhon Dekhi edit took five months, a long time, because it was so anxiety-ridden. I’m glad it worked out in the end. But imagine if ‘Fatso’ had released before the AD shoot - we’d have been full of doubt right on camera. At least, it was shot. You can’t allow doubt to creep in. Belief is important if you have to reach the end of the journey - not in a megalomaniac sense, but you have to fight through. You can’t be unsure and get into that dark space.

So when you start your films, do you indefinitely stop theatre?

Plays don’t take so long. In three months, everything is done and dusted with. And then, it becomes all about shows. We travel, and perform. We only don’t do shows when we’re shooting, otherwise even during the release of Ankhon Dekhi, we were doing Hamlet all over. And Hamlet has now done 180 shows. Imagine that number - 180 shows - and ‘Nothing Like Lear’ has done 95 shows. It’s bizarre. Vinay [Pathak] and I were in Israel two years back with ‘Nothing Like Lear’, and we were walking from the hotel to the theatre. I was telling Vinay - what a life! This is a fantasy we didn’t even dare dream of - traveling the world, people loving it, watching it and laughing, reacting, what more do you want? It’s a blessed life. I’m so grateful, even today, every single day. That’s why all this waiting and cribbing about lack of producers - in the end, it doesn’t even matter. What I’ve got is immense. It just is. Like I was saying, that Ankhon Dekhi screening just last week - it’s so overwhelming. The joy you get when you stand outside after the show and meet happy viewers - it’s just priceless, and more than I’ve asked for. And we are some of the luckiest people in the world because we’re doing what we love. I feel like I’ve never worked a single day. When I’m writing, shooting, editing or doing a show - that’s not working. It’s a gift. There’s no scope of regret or bitterness of any kind at the end of the day. If I can’t make a film for another two years, it will be frustrating. But so what? I’ll write a film that can be made in 30-40 lakhs. If you want to make a film, you’ll make a film. Nobody can stop you.

Suppose you write a film today, it reflects the kind of person you are today. As time passes, everything changes - including your perspectives of the scripts you’re working on for years...

When you shoot it, that’s when you really put a stamp of time on it. Till then, it’s nebulous.

But Ankhon Dekhi was so different from your other films. It wasn’t really what you’d call a ‘Rajat Kapoor’ film.

It is, and is not. It feels different because it’s a very lower middle-class family, so the feel is different. But there are similar themes and characters. I’m almost embarrassed to say it - but the mother in Raghu Romeo, the mother in Fatso, mother in Ankhon Dekhi aren’t very different. Obsessive guys like Raghu, Bauji, VK - there’s a pattern there. I’m not seeking these people, but they keep coming back to me, script after script. Perhaps I have some kind of fascination subconsciously for that eccentric and obsessive character. These are things that become apparent only later though - themes of identity especially. I don’t sit down and decide to do it. I only realize that certain themes excite me. (...)

What would you like to tell a lot of youngsters about to enter the struggle - the idealistic ones who want to tell a story and don’t really make it for certain audiences? (...)

The biggest fear for any creative person is the fear of your own mediocrity. And I think that’s what stops all of us from really pushing the barriers and saying what we want to say. We have the fear of being judged, and what it will do to our image. I think that also marks the difference between the person who does it and the person who does it in their heads. Everyone is a writer in his/her head, but the one who finishes a novel is a writer. I suppose - if you want to make a film, it’s like a disease. You just have to make a film if you have to. Nothing will stop you. There were times when it was humiliating to look for money. There were points when I questioned my motivation to make films - why do it when there’s acting work that pays so well? But it’s not something that you can just stop. It’s a sickness. You have to make films, because it will kill you if you don’t. That madness is important, otherwise you’ll stop after one film. You’ll think it’s too much work, too much stress and humiliation and dealing with people. You’d rather sit at home and write a novel, irrespective of whether it gets published. But you can’t even make a film till somebody puts in money. But you do it because you’re slightly mad. (...) Imagine what Bhansali has to go through, to get Aishwarya Rai, Deepika Padukone, and then to get a producer, then to make a set which everybody often laughs at; they mock him for such lavishness. But he made it because this is his vision; it’s how he sees the world. This is how he sees his cinema, and he fights to get it made. He doesn’t just put a camera somewhere and starts shooting. He has a vision; whether we agree or dislike his vision is irrelevant. But there’s something in his head that compels him to put it on celluloid, and he will go to any extent to do it. Even if it’s Ram Gopal Varma - whatever he makes, he makes it with a certain madness and passion. I think that is the only criteria to make a film'.

ALL EYES ON ANIRBAN BHATTACHARYA

Anirban Bhattacharya è uno dei miei attori preferiti. Ho ammirato il suo talento in una manciata di pellicole in lingua bengali, non tutte entusiasmanti, e l'ho adorato in Finally Bhalobasha. Ieri Film Companion ha pubblicato un lungo articolo, All eyes on Anirban Bhattacharya, firmato da Sankhayan Ghosh. Riporto di seguito un estratto:

'The 35 year old is an actor, thinker, and now a director. Is he also Bengali cinema’s new hope? (...)

Watching him steal the show, in one middling film after another, has been one of the handful few positives of contemporary Bengali cinema. And his recent debut as a film director with the rich, entertaining Macbeth adaptation, Mandaar, posits him as a creative force to reckon with, a serious artist with a political consciousness working in the mainstream. (...)

In his early film roles, you get the impression of a classically trained actor with the electricity of a young Shah Rukh Khan. Then there is his Bangla enunciation, which can turn exposition dumps into masterclasses on how to say lines. (...) Bhattacharya is an exemplar of a Bengali acting legacy - and also a British and American one - of having a career in theatre alongside films.

Add to that, his (female) fan following, which may have its origins in his role as the wayward husband in an attempted murder case in Eagoler Chokh (2016), from the detective franchise Shabor. In what is considered to be his breakout performance, Bhattacharya played the character with an irresistible mix of vulnerability and a bad boy attitude. The character is a baffling contradiction and at one point, even the dour, sarcastic Goenda Shabor, played by Saswata Chatterjee, grudgingly acknowledges his subtly carnal appeal. “He’s not that handsome, but there is something attractive about him”. 

When I got in touch with him for the interview, Bhattacharya was in Purulia shooting a two-hander opposite Kaushik Ganguli in which he plays his wife’s lover. Immediately upon his return he was going to perform consecutive shows of (...) anti-fascist play Mephisto, in which he plays the protagonist Hendrik Hofgen, a talented actor in a left-leaning theatre group in Germany, who, in Faustian fashion, sells his soul after the Nazi party comes to power. I sneaked into one of the rehearsals. 

Bhattacharya was in the middle of a scene, in character, storming across the room locked in a heated exchange of words with a co-actor. Couple of days later, on a drizzly, chilly Saturday evening, I saw him in the actual play. (...) In the climax, his character, torn between conscience and opportunism, pleads to the audience, ‘What do they want from me? I am... just an actor.’ The play had been revived earlier that year before the elections, and had a good run till the second wave hit. With the looming possibility of BJP coming to power all too real, the audience reaction was much more tense; Bhattacharya told me later that he could hear collective gasps in the auditorium while performing. This time around, even though it was a full-house, the reactions weren’t quite the same. That sense of urgency was gone. Bhattacharya wasn’t disappointed but fascinated by the experience. “This connection that theatre has with time. Duronto. (Incredible),” he said. 

Bhattacharya is a critical thinker. He is unusually perceptive and tends to go deep into a subject. This is not always interview-friendly. (...) Examining the complexity of human life, according to Bhattacharya, is precisely what the artist is supposed to do. “You can choose to say, ‘I like things uncomplicated,’ but as an art practitioner, I have learnt otherwise. Our job is to scratch the surface of everyday life and get into its insides,” he said. We were at the National Mime Institute in Salt Lake, where Bhattacharya was rehearsing for a play by Jean-Paul Sartre he was directing for his group Sangharam Hatibagan. He was on the director’s chair as the actors performed. His instructions were minimal and he smiled when they did something surprising. Later he would tell me how the rehearsal session had a power dynamic going on. As did the Mephisto rehearsals I had attended last week, in which he got the best treatment among the actors. “This is coming from a power structure. Because there is a certain perception in society about me,” he said. 

A post-truth world, climate change, digital explosion - it’s not unnatural that someone as sensitive as Bhattacharya has been in a bit of a doomsday mood. The pandemic only worsened it. And yet it is from this bleak state of mind that Mandaar emerged. Somewhere it has made its way into the story of the fictional coastal town of Geilpur, described as “a fish eats fish world”, in which nobody really loves anybody - or even if they do, don’t show. It’s in the transactional nature of the relationships, or in the Che Guevara T shirt of a character “who has no idea who Che Guevara is”. “If you ask me where it comes from, no it doesn’t come from the sand and sea that you see in Mandaar. It comes from contemporary society,” Bhattacharya said. 

Uncompromising in its artistic vision, the five episode series on Hoichoi is also cannily tuned to the popular tastes of the times. There is revenge, there is violence and sex, and there is language laced with profanity. Apart from being well received by critics, it has also been announced as the streaming platform’s biggest show of 2021. Despite that, Bhattacharya is not entirely uncritical of his own work, a rarity in an industry that doesn’t seem to introspect. “We failed to communicate that a Dalit kills Mandaar. It got diluted in the supernatural stuff. It’s almost as if an emerging neta is walking the streets and a naked kid exposes him. It didn’t become a political statement, and that’s a failure,” said the 35 year old actor-director who grew up in Medinipur. 

Bhattacharya’s closeness to SVF, the most powerful production house in West Bengal, puts him in a tricky position to comment on the state of affairs of Bengali cinema. On the one hand, unlike others industrywallahs, he doesn’t pretend that everything is alright. At the same time his deep commitment towards the fraternity forbids him to say certain things. As a result, there is a duality, a contradiction, a conflict. Bhattacharya’s high standards and his credibility as a truth-teller means his answers didn’t follow the usual incestuous back-patting that has become the industry norm. (...) He has no qualms in saying that he owes all his artistic integrity to theatre. ( “All my learning has pretty much stopped after getting into cinema. Here they ask for something, I deliver. There is only give, no take.”) 

It would be followed by something out of character and conservative with convoluted logic like “the film industry should solve its problems internally - it doesn’t need to acknowledge openly because it’s a projection-based industry”, or “SVF and Srijit Mukherji are the establishment, and sometimes people are anti-establishment for the sake of it.” But by and large, Bhattacharya agrees that something’s rotten in the state of Denmark and those problems are systemic. “It’s not going to go overnight. We need five back to back good films, and maybe the game will change,” he says. 

Bhattacharya is on his way to becoming a part of that establishment - if he already isn’t, that is. He has two projects coming up as a director already, the “quirky and pop” Bottolar Goyenda and the horror-comedy Ballavpurer Roopkotha. “Now I have to enter the factory. That’s the rule of the Bengali industry,” he said, with a resigned cynicism when I asked him, ‘So, now what?’ You need someone within the system to change it, and maybe Bhattacharya is our best man. Mandaar is a shining example that high quality entertainment can emerge from within the constraints of the Bengali film industry, which has serious infrastructural issues. What it lacked in budget and equipment, it made up with creativity, symbolic imagery and technical improvisation. (...). 

But where Mandaar had the luxury of an actor doing a one-off directorial project, his future films may not. With a focus on specifically looking for lead roles, and a Hindi debut on the cards with Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway(*), Bhattacharya is only going to get busier'. 

(*) Si tratta della nuova pellicola interpretata da Rani Mukherjee.

BOLLYROME - CECI E CIPOLLE

Ormai il fenomeno Bollywood sta conquistando anche il nostro Paese, e lo dimostra la produzione tutta nazionale Bollyrome - Ceci e cipolle, una commedia musicale in puro stile bollywoodiano scritta e diretta da Gabriele Carbotti, in cartellone al Teatro Lo Spazio di Roma dal 18 al 27 febbraio 2011.

BOLLYWOOD LOVE STORY: TOUR ITALIANO DEL 2011

Il musical Bollywood love story torna in Italia nel 2011. Vi segnalo di seguito le date:

* Torino, Teatro Alfieri, dal 25 al 27 marzo;

* Udine, Teatro Nuovo Giovanni da Udine, 29 marzo;

* Trento, Teatro Auditorium Santa Chiara, 31 marzo;

* Montecatini Terme, Nuovo Teatro Verdi, 1 aprile;

* Senigallia, Teatro La Fenice, dal 2 al 3 aprile;

* Bergamo, Teatro Donizetti, dal 5 al 10 aprile.

Vedi anche Bollywood love story: tour italiano del 2010

BHARATI - THE WONDER THAT IS INDIA: UN SUCCESSO

Vi propongo il comunicato stampa di Barley Arts a consuntivo delle date milanesi dello spettacolo Bharati - The wonder that is India:

'Il pubblico di Milano ha salutato ieri sera in un tripudio di applausi e balli l'ultima replica di Bharati, il musical che in pochi giorni, da venerdì 22 a mercoledì 27 ottobre, ha riempito la città e il Teatro degli Arcimboldi con i colori e gli aromi dell'India. Oltre seimila spettatori entusiasti si sono lasciati conquistare dal ritmo di musica e coreografie di questa spettacolare produzione indiana, che ha messo in scena con gusto, ironia ed indiscutibile qualità artistica tutta la varietà, la tradizione e la modernità di un Paese dal fascino immortale.

Ogni sera, in chiusura dello spettacolo, Pietro Pignatelli, l'attore che ha impersonato il narratore in Italia, tessendo con estrema bravura la trama del musical fra numerosissimi cambi di costumi e di scenografie, non ha dovuto faticare per convincere il pubblico ad unirsi nelle danze al cast presente con lui sul palco - 65 artisti fra ballerini, cantanti e musicisti.

Bharati, nell'attesa di tornare in Italia nel 2011 per nuovi spettacoli che saranno annunciati quanto prima, prosegue ora il proprio tour europeo, con tappe in Svizzera e in Francia, dove rimarrà in scena per oltre un mese, di cui tre settimane consecutive nella sola Parigi.

Claudio Trotta di Barley Arts, che ha portato in Italia questo musical, commenta così l'esperienza appena conclusa: "Bharati è uno spettacolo straordinario, nuovo e diverso da qualunque musical o altro show teatrale visto prima d'ora nel nostro Paese - e non lo dico io, ma il pubblico che in questa settimana ci ha sommerso con commenti carichi di apprezzamento. Per questo stiamo già lavorando, insieme al produttore Gashash Deshe, per riportarlo in tour in Italia nel 2011".'

(Grazie a Elena Pantera di Barley Arts per il comunicato e per le fotografie)

Vedi anche Bharati - The wonder that is India a Milano

BHARATI - THE WONDER THAT IS INDIA A MILANO

Vi ricordo che dal 22 al 27 ottobre 2010 sarà possibile assistere al musical Bharati - The wonder that is India, allestito presso il Teatro degli Arcimboldi di Milano. Di seguito il comunicato stampa di Barley Arts:

'Preparatevi ad essere sopraffatti da ballerini ricchi di grazia, bellezza ed energia, capaci di esprimere la sensualità e la sincerità dell'arte coreografica tradizionale e classica indiana, combinata con la forza e il ritmo della danza moderna. Preparatevi ad essere trascinati dal battito di ritmi esotici e raffinati, suonati dal vivo da musicisti eccellenti, mentre ascoltate voci degne delle divinità indiane. Bharati, una produzione originale indiana gigantesca quanto spettacolare, che riscuote un successo strepitoso in Francia e nei maggiori Paesi europei già visitati, porterà tutto questo al Teatro degli Arcimboldi a Milano dal 22 al 27 ottobre 2010 con sei show - organizzati da Barley Arts.

Bharati, uno spettacolo di musica e danza che ritrae sotto forma di musical un mosaico realistico e genuino dell'India tradizionale e contemporanea, è sicuramente il tentativo più spettacolare, ambizioso e innovativo mai messo in scena per far conoscere al mondo la cultura popolare indiana. Fa esplodere l'India nella sua esuberanza, ricchezza di contenuti e di colori, con una grandezza e una profondità mai viste prima, presentando al pubblico lo splendore e la varietà mozzafiato di questo Paese incantevole.

Ma Bharati non riguarda solo l'India, riguarda qualunque essere umano che si trovi costretto dalle circostanze ad allontanarsi dalle proprie radici. Si può distaccare una persona dalla propria terra, ma non si può strappare il suo cuore. Non importa dove questa persona viva fisicamente, il suo cuore appartiene alle sue origini, alla sua terra natia. E per qualsiasi indiano, la madre terra è Madre India - Bharat Maa.

La colonna sonora di Bharati si compone di musiche tradizionali e di alcune delle canzoni di maggiore successo del cinema hindi e tamil. Sette dei professionisti più famosi dell'industria cinematografica hanno creato coreografie originali in vari stili diversi per queste canzoni, tutte suonate e interpretate dal vivo sul palco.

Ogni scena musicale di Bharati dipinge la tradizione di una specifica regione dell'India attraverso la scelta di ritmi, strumenti tipici, arrangiamenti vocali, caratteristiche melodiche, stili coreografici, costumi e immagini video che creano un ritratto culturale unico.

Infine Bharati fa propri tutti gli ingredienti della cultura popolare indiana e li usa allo stesso tempo sia come fonte di ispirazione, sia come forte legame con l'eredità e la tradizione dell'India. È allo stesso tempo una celebrazione della vitalità dell'India e un invito a partecipare delle sue tradizioni gustandole al meglio nella loro energia inimitabile.

Ogni Paese visitato da Bharati ha un narratore locale che ha il compito di condurre il pubblico alla scoperta del mondo indiano. Il narratore italiano o meglio, il Sutradhar scelto personalmente dal creatore di Bharati, Gashash Deshe, è l’attore Pietro Pignatelli, noto per essere stato protagonista o coprotagonista di diversi musical tra cui Grease, Scugnizzi, Pinocchio fino al più recente Il pianeta proibito. Pietro, 39 anni, napoletano, commenta: “Sono felicissimo. Ho visto immagini dello spettacolo che trovo, a dir poco, esaltante. Namaste a tutti!".'

Un assaggio in questo video

Articolo del Corriere della Sera

(Grazie a Elena Pantera di Barley Arts per il comunicato e per la fotografia)

Vedi anche: Bharati - The wonder that is India: un successo, 29 ottobre 2010

BOLLYWOOD THE SHOW: TOUR ITALIANO DEL 2011

(Testo aggiornato il 23 dicembre 2010)

Dopo Roma e Milano nel 2009, e Firenze nel 2010, tocca anche ad altre città italiane ospitare nel 2011 il musical Bollywood - The show. Di seguito le tappe:

* 8 e 9 gennaio 2011: Padova, Gran Teatro Geox;

* 12 e 13 gennaio 2011: Assisi, Teatro Lyrick;

* 15 e 16 gennaio 2011: Bari, TeatroTeam;

* dal 18 al 23 gennaio 2011: Napoli, Teatro Acacia;

* dal 27 al 30 gennaio 2011: Bologna, Teatro EuropAuditorium;

* 1 e 2 febbraio 2011: Genova, Teatro Politeama;

* 4 e 5 febbraio 2011: Roma, Gran Teatro.

Vedi anche Bollywood the show: tour italiano del 2009

SUEÑOS DE BOLLYWOOD A TORINO

Il Centro studi danza, musica e cultura orientale Aziza di Torino organizza la nona edizione di Stelle d'oriente - Festival di danze orientali, che si svolgerà dal 25 al 28 marzo 2010. La manifestazione rappresenta il principale evento italiano del settore. Aziza Abdul Ridha è una danzatrice di fama, accreditata come étoile presso il Festival del Cairo. Il programma di Stelle d'oriente è molto ricco. Segnalo lo spettacolo Sueños de Bollywood, previsto per giovedì 25 marzo alle Lavanderie a vapore. Lo propone la compagnia di Mistri, coreografa e danzatrice proveniente dalla Spagna. Mistri terrà anche un seminario. Un assaggio dello spettacolo in questo video.

BOLLYWOOD LOVE STORY: TOUR ITALIANO DEL 2010

Il musical Bollywood love story sarà in tournée in Italia nel mese di marzo 2010. Il cast è costituito da trenta artisti fra ballerini, attori, cantanti e musicisti. La ricchissima colonna sonora attinge brani da Bunty Aur Babli, Koi Mil Gaya, Om Shanti Om, Monsoon wedding, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kal Ho Naa Ho, Taal, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham e (in ginocchio!) da Don. L'evento è organizzato da Live Arts Management.

Ad aprire le danze il Teatro Verdi di Firenze, dal 19 al 21 marzo 2010. A seguire il Teatro Verdi di Gorizia, il 23 marzo, e il Teatro Politeama di Catanzaro, il 25 e il 26 marzo. Lo spettacolo sarà inoltre ospitato il 28 marzo dal Festival dell'India di Carrara.

Un assaggio in questo video.

Vedi anche Bollywood love story: tour italiano del 2011, 9 gennaio 2011

BOLLYWOOD - THE SHOW: TOUR ITALIANO DEL 2009

Il Corriere della Sera, in occasione del tour italiano dello spettacolo Bollywood - The show, oggi dedica un'intera pagina al cinema hindi. Dall'articolo principale di Claudia Provvedini:

'Dal 2006 lo hanno visto oltre 500 mila spettatori - da Sidney, a Johannesburg, a Barcellona, ad Amsterdam -: è il musical Bollywood - The show, prodotto a Mumbai. E in primavera arriverà per la prima volta in Italia, all'Olimpico di Roma dal 28 aprile, agli Arcimboldi di Milano dal 19 maggio. (...) Il Times lo ha definito "un flusso frenetico, un piacere ad alto voltaggio". (...) Un'energia che pare non avere limiti, profusa già nelle prime scene e non solo - come ci hanno abituato i musical americani - nel gran finale. (...) Firma le coreografie Vaibhavi Merchant. Firmano la colonna sonora Salim e Sulaiman Merchant'.

Claudia Provvedini ha raccolto le dichiarazioni di Saverio Marconi, 'regista-simbolo del musical made in Italy': "L'italiano ama gli eventi, anche se orrendi, ma poi sa giudicare il livello della compagnia, i quattro fondali o la grande scenografia... e non torna". Alla domanda 'Ci sembrerà vecchio il musical nostrano?', risponde: "Non credo proprio. Broadway non si è messo certo a copiarlo. Troppo lontano, troppo esotico". 

Segnalo inoltre l'articolo di fondo, di Marco Del Corona, dedicato a Chandni Chowk to China, nel quale vengono citati il regista Nikkhil Advani e la superstar Akshay Kumar, e viene pubblicata una foto dell'attrice Deepika Padukone.

Il musical Bollywood - The show è ispirato alle vicende della famiglia di Vaibhavi Merchant, coreografa di film quali Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (la coreografia del brano Dholi Taro Dhol Baaje si è aggiudicata il prestigioso National Award), Lagaan, Devdas, Veer-Zaara, Swades, Bunty Aur Babli (il famosissimo brano Kajra Re), Rang De Basanti, Fanaa, Krrish, Umrao Jaan, Dhoom 2 - Back in Action, Aaja Nachle e Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. Lo zio di Vaibhavi è Chinni Prakash, il quale, in coppia con la moglie Rekha, ha coreografato diverse pellicole, fra cui Jodhaa Akbar e Yuvvraaj (brano Mastam Mastam). 

I fratelli Salim e Sulaiman Merchant sono compositori e cantanti, e hanno firmato le colonne sonore di film quali Chak De! India, Aaja Nachle e Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.

AGGIORNAMENTI

I principali brani in scaletta proposti nelle date milanesi: Rang De Basanti, Kajra Re, My Dil Goes Mmmm, Dance Pe Chance, Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte, Say Shava Shava, It's the time to disco, Dhoom Again.

Un assaggio dello spettacolo in questo video.

Bollywood - The show: tour italiano del 2011, 27 agosto 2010.

(Ringrazio per la segnalazione Christian guru-ji, Giovanni e Viviana).