Australian-produced musical The Merchants of Bollywood is set to perform live at The Palladium in Dubai Media City starting on January 2010 for three nights.

In a first for the Middle East, the show, which The Times of London described as “high octane pleasure”, is being staged in Dubai after a sell-out international tour including London, Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Munich, Geneva, Kuala Lumpur and Paris.

The Merchants of Bollywood is based on the true story of Ayesha Merchant, the granddaughter of Shantilal Merchant, one of Bollywood’s top choreographers, said a statement.

The story takes the audience into the extravagance and escapism of Bollywood - the world’s most prolific film industry and one of India’s biggest income earners.

With humour, drama and emotion the story unfolds in high-energy dance routines by a cast of 40 performers with 1600 costume changes and over 3000 pieces of jewellery.

The music is by Oscar-winning composer A R Rahman, creator of the Slumdog Millionaire movie soundtrack, which won several international accolades.

“I was dazzled by the show in Paris and now this world-class production is coming to Dubai,” said Cathryn Gaspar, CEO of Dubai-based production company Full House.

“The Merchants of Bollywood was extremely popular in Australia and has just finished a hugely successful European tour where over 500,000 tickets were sold. This is a major theatrical production for Dubai and a first for the UAE,” she added. – TradeArabia News Service