Where there is Bollywood, there is melodrama. There is song and dance. There are beautiful faces. Shafeeq Shajahan’s cabaret brings all these to the stage and uses them to pick at some scars and talk about healing. And yes, revenge.
As his springboard, Shajahan (who is also the writer and director of this performance) picks “Satyam Shivam Sundaram”, a 1978 Hindi movie about Rupa, a woman with a heavily scarred face, and her suitor Rajiv, who fails to see beyond the scars. It forms the backdrop not only to an exploration of his own life, but also to his mother’s, who grew up in Singapore as a neglected dark-skinned girl and found resonance in Rupa’s character.
Through songs, storytelling and some playful interaction with the audience, Shajahan talks about his growing-up days in Malaysia, of going on a pilgrimage to Mecca, of coming out to his mother, and about the many Rajivs in his life. Keeping a banter going with him on stage, with both song and dialogue, is music composer and pianist Vasilis Konstantinides. Forming a perfect foil to the two men is the cellist from Malaysia, Mariamlisa, a constant and steady presence of beautiful melody.
The three people on stage are a treasure trove of diversity and intersectionality – bringing together identities of being Muslim and queer, of being a person of colour, of having roots in South and South East Asia; the cultural variety of Cypriotic songs being juxtaposed with Indian classical music, all backed by a Malay cellist.
Even with such richness in its hands, the cabaret stayed shy of brilliance. The threads that bind the performance seemed stretched thin by all the many themes it takes on, from prejudice and pain to religion and relationships. Add to it a parent’s childhood, a Bollywood movie, and redemption, and it felt like one too many for this one-hour performance. For a show with revenge in its name, it fails to provide that build-up to warrant the fury of revenge.
The Bollywood Guide to Revenge is at Soho Theatre until 5 April 2025. Tickets are on sale at https://sohotheatre.com/events/shafeeq-shajahan-if-you-could-see-me-now-the-bollywood-guide-to-revenge/
Reviewer: Savitha Venugopal
Reviewed: 1st April 2025
North West End UK Rating:
Rating: 3 out of 5.
