17-05-2025
The musical Mumbai Star is an ode to movement, music, people and the city
Theatre director Nadir Khan describes Mumbai Star as a 'dance musical. It is all about dance and dancers, but is set in a theatrical format as it uses narrators to tell a story. Our idea is to blend movement, music and lyrics with the theatrical element.'
Mumbai Star was originally written by Devika Shahani, directed by Nadir, with music by Dhruv Ghanekar. In 2023, the team toured Japan for the Min-On Concert Association. However, when it was selected for Season 7 of Aadyam, the Aditya Birla Group's theatre initiative, it needed a fresh approach. Devika, who is the producer along with Nadir had the script reimagined, which was adapted by Akarsh Khurana and Arghya Lahiri. It also brought on board Rajit Kapur and Srishti Shrivastava as narrators.
Mumbai Star begins its India run at Mumbai's St Andrew's Auditorium (May 24 and 25), followed by performances at New Delhi's Kamani Auditorium (June 14 and 15). Choreographed by Avantika Bahl, with music by Dhruv's and lyrics by Ishitta Arun, it features eight songs.
While Nadir earlier directed theatrical productions such as The God Of Carnage, Twelve Angry Jurors and A Few Good Men, he also directed the 2018 musical Sing India Sing, written by Rahul DaCunha and Bugs Bhargava Krishna. Nadir says, ' While Sing India Sing helped me know all about the world of music, I got to learn about dance in Mumbai Star.
Mumbai Star tells the story of Dev (played by Avenav Mukherjee), a young man from a coastal village of Maharashtra, who dreams of becoming a star. With only his raw talent and a small amount of cash, he arrives in Mumbai, hoping to win a dance competition. Though this genre has been explored before, Nadir believes, each storyteller has his own perspective and adds: 'The first thing is to tell the story truthfully and interestingly, but, different modes may be used. Creating memorable moments on stage is pure joy for a director.'
A major emphasis was in choosing the right dancers. Avantika worked with guest choreographers Uma Dogra (Kathak), Vivaran Dhasmana (hip-hop) and Krutika Mehta (Bollywood). Says Bahl, 'The effort was to bring together various styles, interwoven within the expansive framework of contemporary dance. As Mumbai Star also captures the city's spirit, we wanted the movements to represent people from all walks of life.'
Avantika shares the choreography was driven by Dhruv's music compositions. 'It was exciting and challenging to find a way for the varied dance forms to blend and lend themselves to the storytelling, without breaking the overall rhythm of the piece.'
The dancers come with intense training in multiple forms. Avantika elaborates: 'All of them are performers, teachers, and in some cases, choreographers. It was a delight to be in a room full of dancers, who bring in enthusiasm, spirit and grit, willing to push boundaries and bring their own perspectives. For the actors, we made sure they too could get familiar with the movement vocabulary.'
Nadir reiterates that the effort was to bring in dancers who could adapt to other styles. 'For instance, there is Arushi Nigam, who plays Koel. She is a ballerina, who also does contemporary and jazz. But, here she also has to do a lot of Kathak, which was new to her. So the training was rigorous. One can't master a dance form in a few days but one can master the choreography for a particular sequence.'
This is the fourth production of Aadyam's Season 7 this year. The initiative aims to push artistic boundaries in theatre through a good mix of original and adapted stories. The current season has earlier featured The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, directed by Atul Kumar, Chandni Raatein, directed by Purva Naresh and Saanp Seedhi, directed by Shubhrajyoti Barat.
Along with theatre personality Shernaz Patel, Nadir also plays the role of a programming consultant for Aadyam. He says, 'We invite pitches, shortlist and select the final lot after a round of meetings. Aadyam gives producers the wherewithal to build a show and run it, so the costs are taken care of. Aadyam wants these plays to be present in the theatre ecosystem for years, and that has been the case with many productions.'
Nadir feels this role has helped him serve the cause of theatre by enabling other Indian directors to present some wonderful work. He says the response to this season's first three plays has been 'encouraging, and hopes Mumbai Star will offer a completely different experience'.
