A magical journey with Krishna

A sea of sequins and saris will descend upon Parramatta’s Riverside Theatre with  A Magical Journey with Krishna  ”“ a sequin-studded Bollywood stage spectacular, which will be performed for one night only on August 27.

Produced by Swastik Institute of Dance, the play will feature sweeping dance performances, foot-tapping music, dazzling costumes, and a cast of more than 100 actors and dancers.

“It is unlike anything Sydney has ever seen,” says Sumati Lekhi, artistic director of Swastik Institute of Dance. “The show is based on the life and times of one of Hindu mythology’s most emblematic  figures, Lord Krishna. But it has got a riveting contemporary subplot. There’s a lot of time travel and dramatic transitions between the current and the mythological eras, making this production epic in proportions.”

The plot revolves around Sunaina ”“ a nine-year-old girl who, along with her parents, has just moved from Mumbai to Sydney. A new life in Australia is a thrilling prospect for the family, but for Sunaina, who’s had to leave her best friends behind in India, it’s a blow. She struggles to cope with the sea change and is almost on the brink of a breakdown, when something happens… someone appears  in Sunaina’s life and takes her on a magical journey.

“The most beautiful thing about the play is that it has been entirely created in Sydney,” says Lekhi. “The stories are inspired by Indian mythology, but the script has been written from scratch and the entire cast and crew is Sydney-based. So we’re talking a whole  lot of local talent.”

While the Bollywood-inspired show is heavily Subcontinental in its theme, the entire script is written in English, attracting not only a Hindi-speaking crowd, but also the wider Australian community who  find the idea of exotic Bollywood on stage irresistible.