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भिडियो हेर्न तलको बिज्ञापन लाइ हटाउनुहोस

Who would have guessed that a TV commercial broadcast in Israel was the seed for a spectacular, international hit stage show celebrating the rich and diverse culture of today’s India?
As Bharati, the beguiling song-and-dance extravaganza, returns to Sony Centre for three performances this weekend, we can only be grateful that Gashash Deshe, sitting in front of his television in Tel Aviv a decade or so ago, didn’t hit the mute button on his remote when the ads came on.

“I remember this catchy tune,” recalls Deshe. It turned out to be Bollywood-style music and was enough to stir Deshe’s curiosity about a land and culture he knew precious little about. The result was akin to falling in love.
At the same time, Deshe, son of one of Israel’s most successful entertainment producers, had decided to put aside an academic career as an expert in international copyright law and launch a show of his own. The more he learned about India, the more Deshe was convinced he’d found his subject.
“It’s such a vast and diverse culture,” says Deshe, “and there was no mega-show that truly reflected that.” Nor, as Bharati’s producer is proud to point out, one featuring live orchestra and performers grounded in India’s classical dance and music traditions.
Deshe undertook what he calls “a private one-year PhD on India” during which he saw a film version of Bengali writer Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s celebrated 1917 novel Devdas.
Chattopadhyay’s story was one of impossible romance, of love doomed by the divide of caste. “It had a big impact on me,” says Deshe.
Although there’s nothing tragic in the fairly thin romantic plot that holds Bharati together, you can see how Devdas, with its depiction of family expectations and class divide, could feed Deshe’s interest in the way ancient tradition and modernity rub up against each other, not always comfortably, in today’s India.

भिडियो हेर्न तलको बिज्ञापन लाइ हटाउनुहोस