Kishore-Aided Kitschy Fun

Opening shot: Shiny disco balls float by in the sky, dancers appear with guitars that have fire blazing out of its ends, accompanied by the familiar oh so popular tune and notes of Kishore Kumar’s Om Shanti Om ; Just 5 minutes into the musical and we knew we were going to have a gala time. 

‘Jhumroo, a celebration of Kishore Kumar’ does well because it is just that, a celebration of the magnificence of Kishore Kumar.

It’s a simple script with elaborate touches.

It’s the story of Bhola played by actor Gaurav Gera, a happy-go-lucky guy, a big Kishore Kumar fan but with no singing talent whatsoever, hopelessly in love with his office colleague Meena

Meena played by Shweta Gulati, doesn’t in the remotest like Bhola, but she does like singers.

There in begins Bhola’s quest to win over Meena. He takes part in Meena’s favourite singing reality show, with a little ‘inside’ help, when Kishore Kumar’s spirit joins hands with Bhola.

Like in any filmi story, there is the villain who can come in between Bhola’s musical dreams too. Will Bhola win the show and Meena’s heart before everyone finds out the truth is the familiar storyline. And therefore this familiarity needed some solid backing from a lot of other ends.

Thankfully everything does match the grandeur of Kishore Kumar’s songs. The sets, both virtual and real, are opulent and very snazzy. Virtual sets are used to set the moods,the various different backdrops on a scale we’ve never seen before. The virtual spirit of Kishore Kumar is so believable that its eerie. There was not one technical snag and you’re transported from one scene to the other scene almost seamlessly. The choreography by Ashley Lobo is retro and fun, the kind where you think 'Oh I wish I was doing that jig up on that stage.’ 

And then, there’s the aerial choreography. Actors, dancers constantly fly up in the air effortlessly. Infact there’s an entire song, Pyar ke is khel main originally from the film Jugnu, that’s been choreographed with the actors on hand gliders. Fun, indeed.

The negatives? It’s a little too long and we don’t mean the songs. The more than a dozen Kishore Kumar songs is appropriate, you may even be left asking for more. But some of the scenes like Bhola’s introduction and a Navratri scene could have been easily chopped down.

But even then, Jhumroo doesn’t falter. We often found ourselves in the midst of an extremely enthusiastic audience, clapping and hooting along to some classic songs.

In this theatre musical deprived country of ours, Jhumroo is kitschy fun!

Note: A copy of this article has appeared in The Financial World and tehelka.com