BEYOND BOLLYWOOD

Val Parnell must be swivelling in his grave. The celebrated impresario who gave the world Sunday Night At The London Palladium might well be surprised to find that iconic theatre playing host to Beyond Bollywood, a celebration of Indian dance woven around a story thin to the point of anorexia.

Our heroine, Shaily (Ana Ilmi), has a good mother (Pooja Pant) who lives for dancing and her somewhat dilapidated Munich theatre, the fortunes of which she’s trying to turn around, and a bad, boozy father (Sudeep Modak) who wants to sell up and drink himself into oblivion.

When the mother dies, it’s down to Shaily to keep the fl ame alive and never forget the mantra dinned into her. ‘Follow your heart,’ says Mum repeatedly, in a cloud of dry ice, ‘where dreams turn into reality.’ Shaily’s heart is telling her to travel to India to acquaint herself with traditional dance that she can then bring back to her German audience. And, um, that’s more or less it.

Along the way, we’re treated to a quick burst of Jai Ho (familiar from Slumdog Millionaire), some irrelevant numbers from pop videos and any amount of puerile comedy between the goodlooking Raghav (Mohit Mathur) and his sidekick Ballu (Sudeep Modak again), the pair who promise to show Shaily the real India.

The two of them are given a couple of days to come up with a reworked show for a local producer. And if they fail? ‘Don’t worry,’ says Ballu. ‘We could always become children’s party entertainers.’ The selfsame thought had just crossed my mind, given that their routines wouldn’t go amiss on an Asian version of CBBC.

The man behind this farrago is Rajeev Goswami, who has brought 45 actors, singers, musicians and technicians to London for this two-month run. He’s also the show’s writer, choreographer and producer.

So let’s try and accentuate the positive:

The dancing – particularly the traditional numbers – is colourful, noisy and teeming with life, the dancers full of vigour and charm. On refl ection, it might have been better simply to have made this a spectacle celebrating that fine tradition. As it is, we’re saddled with a feeble story that would try the patience of parents at a school production. Beyond Bollywood? Beyond belief might be rather nearer the mark.

Until 27 June at the London Palladium, Argyll Street, London W1: 0844-412 2704