What is The Bollywood Guide to Revenge you may well ask…
By Suman Bhuchar
I’M NOT SURE but in this show it’s how queer performer Shafeeq Shajahan has made sense of his world.
To begin, at the beginning, as you enter the Soho Theatre upstairs you are greeted by a video screen playing a few scenes from the film ‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’ — a 1978 Bollywood film made by Raj Kapoor which starred his brother, Shashi Kapoor and Zeenat Aman.
Shahjahan uses the trajectory of the central protagonists of the film to parallel his life story but although entertaining, the connection is tenuous at most.
In the film, Roopa (Aman) is a village belle with a beautiful voice which attracts the attention of city engineer Rajeev (Kapoor) although she wears very little clothing one side of her face is always veiled. She always gets up early washes and seductively caresses the Shiva lingam stone while singing devotional songs especially the title track which means “God is beauty, truth and divinity”.
The song and movie are iconic and in this cabaret show some of the major scenes are looped and replayed to effect.
Kapoor is entranced by her voice and falls in love, weds her, then rejects her when he lifts the veil to discover she is disfigured.
Later God wreaks revenge and the dam bursts flooding the village but there is a happy ending.
So, these few scenes are intercut with Shajahan narrating, singing seductively his own story, through song aided by his keyboard player Cypriot composer Vasilis Konstantinides and cellist, Mariamlisa.
Konstantinides also acts as a prompt for Shajahan asking a few questions to aid the story.
All three are consummate performers and there are a lot of costume changes in the show.
Shajahan shares his story – he is from Malaysia/Singapore and wants revenge for being rejected as a queer Muslim man. It is engrossing but not deep enough and some of the approach is exaggerated and self-indulgent. He is definitely talented and has a fine voice.
Shajahan is trying to interweave three stories together, the film, his mother’s and his own.
He touches on his mother’s story which is interesting and we are left wanting more. It’s an enjoyable, engrossing and entertaining show but could have benefited from dramaturgy and direction.
ACV rating: **** (Out of five)
On only until tomorrow (April 5) 8.30pm
The Soho Theatre, 21 Dean St, London W1D 3NE
https://sohotheatre.com/events/shafeeq-shajahan-if-you-could-see-me-now-the-bollywood-guide-to-revenge/
