During the interlude, when the performers are asked to improvise, everyone breaks into their best routines – standing and sitting splits, tops are tucked in to show off belly moves, a lithe dancer pulls up his jersey and beckons towards his taut six-pack. There is some writhing on the floor. Another goes through a range of comic expressions synced with the words. There are seductive come-hithers, handstands, backflips and pirouettes.
The performers are at Kent Star auditorium in the Andheri West suburb of Mumbai on Day One of the auditions for Dubai Parks and Resorts. A four-in-one theme park on Sheik Zayed Road in Dubai, spread over 25 million square feet, it is need of an unprecedented number of performers – dancers, actors, mimes, jugglers, celebrity lookalikes, and masters of ceremony. The Bollywood themed park alone needs about 100 dancers, for performances every 15-20 minutes as well as a big musical every evening.
“There is no better high for an artist than to connect with that one person in the audience and make them happy,” said Sudipta Mandal, one of the performers at the auditions.
Mandal is a veteran of this circuit, having performed in more than 1,400 shows. Between them, she holds down a job as a fitness trainer in Andheri East, teaching Pilates and Zumba. “I love costumes, make-up, doing my hair – all that goes with a stage performance,” said the 27-year-old. “This would be my big chance to take Indian talent to a large platform.”
The auditions are on such a large scale that all wheels move simultaneously. Mumbai is the third stop after Delhi and Chennai. There are auditions also being held in London, the US and some other world capitals. As soon as a batch of auditioners finish, the judges go into consultations. They are looking for doughty performers, those who can reach out to a crowd of hundred and do five shows a day, all with vim. That and stamina.
Dancers from Colombia have aced the stamina parameter so far. With looks that pass off as Indian, and a dance training that is vigorously Latino, they are able to dance the Bollywood style with surprising charm. But now there is an opportunity for performers from the home of Bollywood to take their place in Bollywood Park.
In the Andheri auditorium, the first batch of 40-odd dancers are taught six bars of moves to the tune of Nachange Saari Raat, given about 15 minutes to practice, and then asked to audition in groups of four. Some of them pick it up immediately. Others falter. One doesn’t even attempt to learn the moves – he powers through the song on improvisation.
About 40 performers have been shortlisted on the spot from the other cities. Before the first batch is let out of the auditorium, about 10 of them, including a Shah Rukh Khan lookalike Durgesh Goyal, are sent to give measurements. The requirement of the costumes is such that there are about 50 minute measurements that have to be taken. Each performer needs about three copies of a single costume – one for back up, one to wear and another in the laundry.
Intriguingly, seven out of ten contenders on Day One of the auditions are men. The Park needs an equal ratio of genders. Apart from these open auditions, dancing troupes from India (such as the Shaimak Davar troupe) have been offered contracts. The current contracts are for one year and the organisers say they will audition every year to refresh the pool. However, the performers will be cross-trained in other opportunities across the park with a view to a long-term career.
This is what drew 33-year-old Goyal to Mumbai, from Jodhpur in Rajasthan. He runs a dance academy in his hometown, giving a mix of acting and mimicry lessons to his students, along with Bollywood dance moves. He also performs in mimicry shows and does bit parts on stage and on screen playing his more successful idol. “I wouldn’t mind moving to Dubai for a longer period – five years or even forever,” he said. “This is my opportunity to do something on a larger scale.”
Goyal works from assignment to assignment, like many dancers. “We audition, go on a tour come back and use the money we earned sparingly until we land another show,” said Derect Reynold, a 24-year-old from Delhi. “Sometimes, we lose out on better show because we are out touring as back-up dancers with film stars or performing at cultural and corporate shows.” Reynold moved to Mumbai a few months ago to try to make it as a choreographer-dance director. A stint in Dubai will give him the bank balance to finance his struggle in the film industry.
Apart from long-term employment, the Dubai opportunity offers traditional benefits of employment – a medical insurance, housing allowance, provident fund, severance in case of untimely termination and tickets home.
Like Reynold, Akshay Bagde also wants to become a choreographer. The Mumbai-based dancer choreographs troupes contesting in reality shows. There are stray assignments of directing moves for advertisements and wedding functions.
Inside the auditorium, the crowd is democratic. Those who can speak in English are sifted for speaking parts. The rest are assured there are enough positions for those who cannot speak the language. There are enough dancers with defined body language that comes through summer classes with Shiamak Davar and the other contemporary schools; there is enough representation of the Mumbai’s native dance style – the Front Row Visarjan Dancers.
Show director Shruti Agarwal, under duress as the only Hindi-speaker on the panel, is coaxing the dancers with the gentleness not often seen in Mumbai’s struggler suburb. “Do any of us look scary? WIll you please smile for me? C’mon, bring out your inner Katrina, Kareena, Amitabh, Shah Rukh... Whoever you admire, become them.”
Then she pulls out the ace, “We were in Delhi yesterday and they had more energy than you! C’mon Mumbai!”
By the time the fourth cluster of four performers auditions, the room is thick with the smell of sweat and Agarwal smiles.
“Delhi was better.”
“Bring out your inner Katrina, Amitabh.”