The story begins in India, in the deserts of Rajasthan, in the temple of Shiva.
The Merchant family dynasty holds the responsibility of upholding the ancient traditions of the Kathak dance, the dance of the Gods. Shantilal Merchant is the last in the line of gurus. This tradition is about to die out.
Shantilal was formerly a choreographer in the golden era of India’s great film industry, Bollywood. India was recovering from Partition. Division in the country had ripped the heart and soul of the people apart and Shantilal believed that Cinema could heal the wounds.
Shantilal left when the industry grew commercial and lawless, influenced by western trends and dirty money. Shantilal began his own dance school in the desert, teaching traditional folk dance.
His granddaughter Ayesha left Rajasthan against his wishes to become the reigning queen of choreography of Bollywood films today. She has the Midas touch. They cal her “The Princess of Romance”.
Although they are family, their approach to film choreography could not be further apart.
Shantilal believed that films should change people’s lives.
Ayesha believes film should help people escape.
Reality or fantasy – there lies the conflict.
Ayesha’s teenage rebellion against her classical training, in favor of modern western dance styles, was the seed of their fued. The damage seems irreparable.
Ayesha resolves to visit Shantilal to make peace. Her journey takes her to the heart of India – the deserts of Rajasthan and into the arms of her childhood sweetheart Uday.
In the temple, the fires are burning low.
Her grandfather is dying. There is no one left to continue the family tradition, performing the dance of the Gods.
Ayesha decides to marry Uday, and stay in Rajasthan to run her fathers dance school and maintain the family traditions.
But she will run the school her way, in a balance of old and new.
The finale of the show is colourful, thrilling, high-energy fusion of folk, classical, modern, Western and Indian dance forms.
Tears are shed, old wounds are healed, age-old conflict is reconciled in a powerful journey to the sacred heart of dance.
Cast Biographies
Carol Furtado (Ayesha)
Starting from the humble beginning of school plays and shows for local charities, Carol Furtado went to winning several beauty pageants till she was sighted by a budding choreographer and started her career as a professional dancer.
Her first major performance was at the MTV Launch in Bangalore in 1996 where she performed alongside Slash of Guns & Roses fame. In the same year she started performing on a regular basis with one of India’s first female pop performers, namely, Shweta Shetty. Her first international performance was with Shweta Shetty in Nepal.
The following year Carol was featured in the music video Bari Barsi with Baba Sehgal - the pioneer of rap music in India. In 1997 she performed at ICCR - the China Art Festival in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong-Kong and Chengdu.
And in 1998, Carol went on her first national tour with the legendary
singer Asha Bhosle. During 1998, she also toured the U.S. with India’s leading film-musician duo, Laxmikant- Pyarelal, performing with the likes of dandia queen- Falguni Pathak, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Nitin Mukesh and Vinod Rathod. Added to all this, she also found time to perform with Stereo Nation during their 1998 tour of India.
In 1999 carol expanded her global experiences, going on tour with singer Kumar Sanu to Holland, U.S. and Canada and also performed in Sri Lanka for Bavana. The same year she was one of the lead dancers in Sanjay Gupta’s video Ke Bus featuring singer Alisha Chinnoy. 1999 ended on a high, as Carol partnered with Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar to perform at the South Filmfare Awards.
Over the yearsCarol has performed alongside and shared the stage with the following performers, musicians & entertainers: Collonial Cousins (Lezz & Hariharan), Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan, AR Rehman, SB Balasubramanyam, Sukhvinder, Shankar Mahadevan, Javed Jaffrey, Chitra, Sadhna Sargham and STOMP both in India and Internationally (U.S. and Canada).
In 2002, she went on a huge dance tour to U.S., Canada, West Indies and London with Asha Bhosle and Adnan Sami.
Dance was not the only medium Carol explored:
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She was featured in 4 series of the yoga programme Fitness Plus on ZeeTV. The series, a big hit ran, successfully for over 2 years.
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She also recently hosted and anchored a yoga programme Fitness For You which has been aired in the U.S. and U.K.
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She has also been back on the catwalk for Tony & Guy (TiGi), Levis and several Indian Fashion houses and has been featured modelling Rohit Verma Creations in the international fashion magazine La Mode.
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During the last 3 years she has also found the time to design and produce costumes for a U.S. based Dance Company called Naach
And all along the passion for Dance continued & hence she is here today…
Dipender Singh (Uday)
The wonderful world of Bollywood is often filled with flukes of casting. Dipender joined The Merchants of Bollywood precisely like that. Recommended highly by Vaibhavi Merchant, Dipender was signed up in just one meeting. One rehearsal later, the casting directors were smiling ear to ear.
Dipender lives and breathes dance. He has trained in Jazz and Street-style Hip Hop in Los Angeles, and has worked in numerous international stage shows and live events with stars of the Hindi film industry.
He has also featured in films like Dhoom, Musafir and Hum Tum. A choreographer in his own right, Dipender has now come to fore with his role as Uday, and is an embodiment of the Bollywood icon – the dancerstoryteller.
Arif Zakaria (Shantilal)
Arif Zakaria started his career on television in 1988. He played lead roles in popular serials such as Campus, Amanat, Mrityudand and Dhund, as well as Chunauti, Karambhoomi, Humraahi, and Behti Ganga. He made his film debut with a lead role in Darmiyaan, directed by Kalpana Lajmi, and was nominated for Best Actor in the National Awards and Best Debut in both the Filmfare and Screen awards.
Arif Zakaria acted in Deepa Mehta’s English film 1947 Earth; The Hero, directed by Anil Sharma; Asambhav, directed by Rajiv Rai; and played the lead in The Dressing Room, directed by Sanjay Srinivas. He played a principal character in Refuge, an independent film directed by Narain Jashanmal and produced by Ismail Merchant, and played on important character role in the film Deewar, directed by Milan Luthria.
In Pamela Rooks’ Indian English film Dance Like a Man, he played the lead role of a Bharatnatyam dancer, having undertaken dance training for six months. Released to critical acclaim last October, the film won the National Award for Best Film In English and Most Creative Film at the lACC Festival (New York, 2003). Arif Zakaria was also nominated as best actor for the same film at the 2004 National Awards. He also played the lead in Kahani Gudiya Ki (2005), directed by S Prabhakar, The film is based on the true story of a Muslim POW who returns home from Pakistan after five years to find his wife remarried and pregnant. By Shariat laws, she is forced to return to her first husband.
Arif Zakaria plays the lead role in the film Sab Golmaal Hai (released Octoer 2005), directed by Pankuj Parashar and appeared in the same director’s Benares, the story of a woman’s enlightenment through Western philosophy and eastern mysticism. He also features in Highway 203, a thriller directed by Shadab Khan, and in Home Delivery, directed by Sujoy Ghosh, a warm-hearted look into people’s lives during the day before ‘Diwali’ (the ‘Festival of Lights’ that celebrates Rama’s homecoming and coronation).
Chander Khanna received his Diploma in Acting from the Films &
Television Institute of India, Pune (FTII) - 1974.
Since then he has worked in over 60 Feature Films, including Hum Bachche Hindustan Ke (Main Lead), Neal n Nikki, Golmal and Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman.
He has also appeared in over 60 Ad Films, including Saffola, Deccan Chronicle, VIP (Print), LIC (Print) etc.
His many television appearances include Paying Guest, Hello Dollie, Parampara, Asha Ki Kiran, Yaadein along with his theatre credits of The, Merchants of Bollywood, Trisanga, Paagalkhaana, Black with Equal etc.
Tony Mirchandani (Narrator)
Tony Mirchandani has experience in diverse areas of advertising,
entertainment and other industries. He worked as a theatre artist and was well known for his noteworthy plays; writing, directing and acting in most of them. His play, Love, Divorce and Carrot Juice was later published as a book by the Writer's workshop.
His theatrical credits include major roles in dozens of English plays, such as Somerset Maugham’sThe Letter, Jean Anouilh’s Becket (Henry II), Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice , Anthony Shaffer’s Murderer, Ira Levin’s Deathtrap, Patrick Hamilton’s Gaslight and Quasar’s A View from the Stage.
When he landed in Mumbai to open a branch for his advertising agency he was mesmerized by Bollywood and became involved with direction, script writing and other aspects of the industry. He wrote many television serials, including the top rated Suraag – The Clue. He also wrote the Bollywood film Wajah – A Reason to Kill, which was released in 2004.
As an actor he has appeared in more than a dozen Hindi TV serials and hit Bollywood films, including Gaddar-Ek Prem Katha, Koi Mil Gaya, Kuch Kaha Aapne and Market. He also took part in a New York production of The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb.
His Hollywood film appearances include Roger Corman’s Nightfall and Jack Shoulder’s Beeper (with Harvey Kietl). He acted in the Bengali film Mastermoshai.
Tony Mirchandani is currently writing two Anglo-Bollywood Productions: Bra-less in Calcutta and Leave it to John.
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