{"id":66535,"date":"2024-05-08T12:07:30","date_gmt":"2024-05-08T11:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/?p=66535"},"modified":"2024-05-08T12:07:30","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T11:07:30","slug":"bollywood-musical-premiere-comes-to-wolverhampton-this-june","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/08\/bollywood-musical-premiere-comes-to-wolverhampton-this-june\/","title":{"rendered":"BOLLYWOOD MUSICAL PREMIERE COMES TO WOLVERHAMPTON THIS JUNE!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FRANKIE GOES TO BOLLYWOOD <\/strong>is coming to Wolverhampton Grand Theatre from 11 \u2013 15 June Rifco Theatre Company\u2019s <\/strong>most spectacular and ambitious musical to date, in partnership with Watford Palace Theatre and HOME Manchester. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conceived by Artistic Director of Rifco, Pravesh Kumar MBE, FRANKIE GOES TO BOLLYWOOD<\/strong> is a spectacular all-singing-all-dancing tale of heroes and villains, with all the costumes and the spectacle of a Bollywood feature film. It tells the tale of being British in Bollywood and explores what it takes to get to the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frankie never wanted to be a star, all she\u2019s ever really wanted is a close and loving family – but after a chance encounter with an up-and-coming director, she finds herself transported to Bollywood, cast in a movie and thrust into the limelight. Might the Bollywood world provide her with the family and community she has always dreamed of? Suddenly Frankie is immersed in the world of fame and fortune but as she climbs the sparkling staircase of stardom, each step makes her question what she is willing to do, or be subjected to, for success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drawing inspiration from both traditional Bollywood music and the best of western musical theatre, the music for Frankie goes to Bollywood is a carefully integrated hybrid – designed to appeal to lovers of the Bollywood genre and also lovers of a good old West End extravaganza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bollywood as an industry generates over \u00a32 billion a year, and globally the films have an audience of 1.3billion. In the UK a successful Bollywood film can be expected to take as much as \u00a34 million – so it\u2019s little wonder that the glamorous lure of Bollywood stardom appeals to many British-South Asian young people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FRANKIE GOES TO BOLLYWOOD<\/strong> is inspired by those true stories of young men and women who make the journey to India to become Brits in Bollywood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside a couple of very well-known faces in Bollywood who hold British citizenship including  Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt, there are also dozens more actors, both male and female born in Britain who have established successful careers. FRANKIE GOES TO BOLLYWOOD<\/strong> is inspired by many of their stories, and by Pravesh\u2019s own experience of being a Brit in Bollywood, and by what he observed in terms of British-born women\u2019s experience in the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pravesh says \u201cA lot of the story is about a question of belonging. In some ways in the UK, British born South Asian people, will still forever be seen by many as immigrants, no matter how many generations their families have lived in Britain. So forging a  career in Bollywood, be that in front of or behind the camera can be seen by those who go out there, as somewhat of a homecoming. But then, being British born, and new to a lot of the culture, many of the women who go to work in the industry become acutely aware of the deeply ingrained sexism, not just within the industry itself, but displayed on screen. And that\u2019s something they have to address and decide how much of that disparity they can put up with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to highlight this issue, because as the world fights the good fight for increased equality between genders, it\u2019s men\u2019s responsibility to shine a light on sexism, and to call it out when they see it – at work, amongst their friends, and in the wider world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love Bollywood fiercely and this musical is at heart, a celebration of the genre and the art and the people involved. But that doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m not still hoping and pushing for change. So my hope is that is this work a celebration of Bollywood, but at the same time, a small catalyst for improved social standing for women in the industry, both behind-the-scenes, and how they are portrayed on the silver screen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rifco Theatre<\/strong> has a long tradition of working to celebrate and reflect contemporary British Asian experiences, culture and society. Pravesh\u2019s own experience working for a decade in Bollywood, alongside his extensive work in UK theatre and film looking at the British South Asian experience plays a fundamental role in the development of Rifco\u2019s productions and subject matter, focusing on untold stories and under-represented voices. In \u2018Frankie goes to Bollywood\u2019 Rifco have created a multi-layered piece of theatre. On one level it offers a sumptuous British spin on the glorious visual and romantic stories of Bollywood; a breathtakingly colourful journey of romance, sweeping songs and vibrant dance; the big, bold explosion of movement, colour and music that \u2018Bollywood\u2019 immediately brings to mind. Yet this is   juxtaposed against an exploration of the darker undercurrent within the culture. Frankie Goes to Bollywood delves into the influence the film industry has on society\u2019s views of women, both in India and for the 4 million South Asian residents of the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pravesh Kumar<\/strong> says \u201cA strong theme throughout my work has been platforming the experiences of working class British South Asians, and I really drew on my inside knowledge of Bollywood in this case. Frankie Goes To Bollywood is absolutely a celebration of everything that is glorious and spectacular about Bollywood and Indian heritage but I also wanted to bring to light the often-formidable circumstances young women face in particular. It was important to me to draw attention to, and question certain elements about the culture. These include the double standards regarding modesty and the large and uncomfortable age difference between the male and female performers. Throughout my life and career, I have developed a huge love for Bollywood and its traditions but want my plays to have a realistic point of view and analysis alongside the celebratory element. And I think it\u2019s vital that, as artists, we keep questioning and holding up a mirror to society.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FRANKIE GOES TO BOLLYWOOD is coming to Wolverhampton Grand Theatre from 11 \u2013 15 June Rifco Theatre Company\u2019s most spectacular and ambitious musical to date, in partnership with Watford Palace Theatre and HOME Manchester.  Conceived by Artistic Director of Rifco, Pravesh Kumar MBE, FRANKIE GOES TO BOLLYWOOD is a spectacular all-singing-all-dancing tale of heroes and villains, with all the costumes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[401,51,43,37,107,283],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-events","category-lifestyle","category-local-news","category-music","category-top-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66535"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66537,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66535\/revisions\/66537"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}