Based on one of the most iconic Bollywood romantic films of recent times, this stage show has its own personality and flavour…
THIS is a triumph of a show: entertaining, funny, endearing, charming, brimming with energy and carrying a small cultural punch too in several directions.
The music and dance are of a high calibre and the ensemble cast keep everything on track as the main stars hold your attention and interest throughout.
But please don’t confuse it with the film though – ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ (1995), or ‘DDLJ’ as it is known by many, especially in India. It may have been its parent – but this musical dramedy deserves to be viewed as a new production; a fully functioning, independent adult with its own ideas, dreams and hopes – to continue the analogy.
Those steeped in nostalgia of ‘DDLJ’ may be disappointed – you don’t need to have seen or know about the original film to enjoy this – that’s a big plus – as the crossover audience this production deserves – won’t know anything…
Despite being directed by Aditya Chopra, the same man who directed the film, this has a British feel and the story has been adapted for British tastes.
This is different to the world premiere stage version of ‘Come Fall in Love’ first performed in San Diego in the US in 2023.
The story changes help and anchor this show in a solid UK setting.
Raj, played by Shah Rukh Khan, Bollywood icon (still) 30 years on, has become Rog – a young Oxford University graduate played by Ashley Day.
Simran remains Simran – and is played by Jena Pandya in this production.
The essentials have remained and it’s a simple story at heart – a girl and a boy meet – they don’t much like each other initially but then clubbed together, out of circumstance more than choice, they find romance and love.
But there are complications – Simran’s father, the imposing, upright and proud Baldev (Irvine Iqbal) is a man of strong convictions and morals and desires nothing more than his dear Simran to be married into the Sikh faith and be loyal to a wider Indian cultural ethos.
Racism, long hours and unfulfilled hopes have left him with the notion that marrying Simran to a good Sikh ‘back home’ is the best idea.
The characterisation works in this and again borrows from the original.
Day is a smiley, wily, party boy at university, where he chances upon Simran who is also at Oxford University, following a school scholarship and the family moving from Southall in west London to Oxford to be close to her.
Baldev runs an office licence/retail shop and his first encounter with a drunk Rog isn’t a good one.
Simran is smart, sassy and ambitious and something of a bookworm.
As you would expect she first finds Rog, frivolous, arrogant, conceited and sees him as a player… and their first meeting ends up with Simran in jail, overnight.
Not an auspicious start but then through Simran’s best friend, Cookie (Millie O’Connell) and her boyfriend, Ben (Amonik Melaco), Rog and Simran are forced to go interrailing with each other and an unintended overnight stay together (and alone) in Switzerland and some champagne radically change the dynamic.
The second half of the show when it transfers to Punjab is when the production comes even more into its own.
Simran is bequeathed to the son of one of Baldev’s closest friends, the effervescent rich guy figure of Kuljit (Kinshuk Sen).
Preparations are under way for the nuptials.
At the same time and in a significant departure from the original – Rog comes from a ‘broken home’ – his mother Minky (Kara Lane) and father Roger Mandel Senior (Russell Wilcox) have long since divorced and Minky is an assertive, bouncy, intelligent woman who loves to travel…
Yes, Rog ends up accompanying her and engineers a meeting with Simran and puts together his plan to woo her and stop her from marrying Kuljit.
There are some twists and turns and the strength of the show comes from a strong trajectory for all the principle characters – even Lajjo (Harveen Mann-Neary) Baldev’s wife.
Nell Benjamin, responsible for the Book and Lyrics – script and songs – along with star Indian composers Vishal Dadlani and Sheykhar Ravjiani all do a fine job, as do choreographers Rob Ashford and Shruti Merchant.
The sets are inventive, colourful and with some computer generated imagery work to aid the production – the India section looks like somewhere you want to go, so a big thumbs up to all the production team behind the staging.
Day and Pandya are central this show’s success and the diverse cast is good to see and all this suggests South Asian musical theatre has a bright future – and Pandya should be a name to look out for in the future.
The only very slight criticism is that the Holi ending seems a bit superficial and the songs are good, but don’t quite fall into classic anthem territory but that’s no big deal.
All in all, it’s a top night out for all the family, whether you’re familiar with the culture or not. (Sailesh Ram)
Acv rating: **** (four out of five)
Listing
Until June 21
Come Fall in Love, Opera House Manchester, 3 Quay Street M3 3HP
More info/tickets: here
Jena Pandya (Simran) and Irvine Iqbal (Baldev) speak to www.asianculturevulture.com after press night production (Wednesday June 4)
https://www.instagram.com/p/DKgzRrKiV9L/
