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Get ready for "the first authentic Indian dance and music spectacular from Mumbai". That's the tagline in the advertisements, but "The Merchants of Bollywood" actually has a story, and apparently a fitting and personal one.

So music and dance aside, there's dialogue in English.

The plot is adapted from the life of Vaibhavi Merchant, the great-granddaughter of a master of classical kathak dancing who became famous among Bollywood fans as "the Princess of Romance".

She's the choreographer on "Merchants" and her brothers Salim and Sulaiman composed the music.

Australian director Tony Gough has written a script in which Ayesha Merchant leaves Rajasthan for Mumbai, choosing the glitz and glam of Bollywood over classical dance, her sweetheart and her grandfather, who warns that the film industry is no longer a place for art and good women.

Escapist pleasures

We all love Bollywood films in spite - or because - of the high melodrama. That and the extravagant dancing are pure escapism, which everyone needs once in a while.

"Merchants" premiered in 2005 in Australia - the producer and many in the creative crew are also Australian - and has toured Europe and China.

Its "turbo-charged" entertainment is presented "with such utter enthusiasm the performers' toothy grins seem to be transferred to the audience as if by osmosis", said the Perth newspaper the Western Australian.

"The blindingly extravagant costumes and lighting are matched only by the fast-paced dance routines … True to style, the sentiment is syrupy, but Bollywood fans will love this flamboyant, energetic stage incarnation. Its humour is infectious."

The London Times gave it four out of five stars and called the music "a rich swirl of Eastern and Western influences, bhangra and sarangi strings throbbing to the beat of an almost hip-hop sensibility".

 FLESH AND FANTASY

>> "The Merchants of Bollywood" is at the Royal Paragon Hall from October 22 to 26, at 7.30pm on the Thursday and Monday and 1 and 5 Friday through Sunday.

>> Tickets cost Bt900 to Bt3,000 at www.Thai|TicketMajor.com. Check about a 10-per-cent discount.

 >> On the Internet: www.MerchantsOfBollywood.com.au.