A filmy and heartfelt cabaret about the power of self-love
A Bollywood Guide to Revenge is a wonderful unapologetically camp show about self love. Filled with fantastic original music, a camp and effective emcee and stunning lighting and projection work, it is rare to see a show that is so biting but has so much heart. Written by Shafeeq Shajahan (who acts as our emcee) and Vasilis Konstantinides (on keys), the show is filled with original songs as Shajahan takes us through episodes in his (and his mother’s) life. From being a small child questioning sections of the Quran, to having a holy and moving experience at Mecca to coming out to his mother, the show shines as Shajahan lays his soul bare to the audience.
The message of the show is succinct and beautiful, it is all about loving yourself not in spite of but because of your scars. The show does an excellent job of acknowledging the
sometimes messy realities of queerness and faith without relying on lazy oversimplifications. To Shajahan, queerness and faith are one and the same thing, and the resulting art is truly beautiful. Shajahan is a born performer, he is highly charismatic, engages with the audience throughout and manages to get laughs without turning himself into a joke.
The music combined traditional Indian and Cypriot stylings, and the team were able to make the music and lyrics accessible without compromising on authenticity. Their solution was to project lyrics as they were sung in their original script, translated and transliterated so audience members would understand the music regardless of background. Konstantinides commands on keys, and their cellist Mariamlisia Abidin rounds of the music well. At times I found myself wishing that they had a full band behind them.
The show is expansive and at times it feels restricted to its 60-minute slot. The start drags a little. It would be excellent to see future stagings of the show that were longer, and there was time to cover each story in more depth and allow for more space to develop the relationship between Shajahan and Konstantinides. Though the intimacy between the performers was obvious, the dialogue sometimes felt overly scripted in service of moving the plot along in order to meet the 60-minute slot.
My major issue with the show was the sound mixing. The Soho Theatre upstairs is a
wonderful, intimate space which means that it is small. The volume of all the music was
simply too high for a lot of the show. The music itself was an absolute triumph, however it was let down by how loud it was. The actors themselves wore earplugs, which potentially explains why.
The Bollywood Guide to Revenge is a riot, and despite how funny and silly it is at points, by the end I was in tears. I haven’t stopped humming the final number and am eagerly awaiting when the music will be available to listen to. It is glamorous, funny and heartwarming, and I hope that it will have further life in a larger venue.