by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Just as Hong Kong movies are synonymous with kick-ass kung fu, the cinema of India is centered around spectacular song-and-dance sequences. Given that, a dance party focused on Bollywood (the term for both the Indian film industry as a whole and its centre of activity in Mumbai) and the chart-topping filmi (movie tunes) genre is an idea begging to be realized.

Montreal’s Caroline Tabah has done just that, after falling in love with Bollywood during a recent trip through Southeast Asia. “This Indian cinema—the world’s biggest films producers, making around 800 films per year—has such beauty, sensitivity and sensuousness,” says Tabah. “By a particular visual language and excessive play from the actors, the stories can be comprehensible to all, even if they don’t speak Hindi.”

To illustrate, Tabah will be projecting clips—“Mainly really happy parts with dances and songs, like in the wonderful, sumptuous, colourful Devdas, Kal Ho Naa Ho, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham and Dil Se. Before the start of the dance, while people enter, there will be quieter, softer parts of movies from different times, from the many eras of Bollywood history—Mughal-e-Azam, Awara and so on.

Tabah’s roped in some live dancers too. “Manijeh Ali will do a puja, from a classical Indian dance called Bharata Natyam, to open the evening. She’ll be followed by Ina Bhowmick and her troupe Bollywood Blast, with a mix of different types of dances, from Rajasthani to Bollywood style. Ina was a choreographer on the show Bombay Blue at the Casino de Montréal last year.”

Furthermore, DJs Rohit and Blaze will be spinning bhangra, Desi beats and filmi galore. “Of course there will be music from my favourite filmi singer Asha Bhosle, ‘the golden voice of Bollywood,’ who performed wonderfully last June at the Ricoh Centre in Toronto,” notes Tabah.

Best part is, it’s a benefit for the non-profit organization Young Musicians of the World. “Their mission is to open high-quality schools around the world that teach traditional music. The goal is to give children and teenagers a chance to express their full creative potential, by offering them an excellent education for free.”

At la Sala Rossa on Friday, Sept. 2, 9 p.m., $5

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