‘Rajadhiraj : Love, Life, Leela’ stands out with Broadway-style production

By Amit Srivastava*

Mumbai: The play Rajadhiraj: Love, Life, Leela is an experience not to be missed. In this musical, which is a Broadway-style production with music, dances, and opulent sets,  the journey of Krishna’s life has been presented with a good blend of spirituality and grandeur. 

The play based on the life of Krishna, takes the audience on a breathtaking journey experiencing the divine play of Lord Krishna from childhood onwards to youth and eventually as the king of Dwarka or the Rajadhiraj.  The beautifully clothed characters and dancers and appealing vibrant music, add to the magic and the great ambience. It is a laudable attempt by the makers of the play to venture into a lavish-scale musical based on a quintessential Indian theme.

The captivating story of Krishna is told through the eyes of a couple of characters including a little girl who acts as ‘Sutradhar’. Not only do they see the divine events unfolding in Krishna’s life from close quarters, but they are also able to participate in the joys and sorrows of the characters. Their awe, fear and excitement are amply conveyed to the audience. The drama on the stage is heightened with colourful costumes, dances and great use of audio-visual effects mixed with deft use of props and set elements. The set elements kept shifting seamlessly to constantly form a new mosaic of picturesque frames filled with colourful characters, and stunning backdrops.

Music and dances form a strong feature of the presentation of Rajadhiraj. The music and songs are vibrant, energetic very modern yet very rooted at the same time and strike a chord with the audience immediately. All the characters in the show have done live singing. The singing is top notch and the songs are soulful. Several songs stand out. The one sung by Yashoda when she misses Krishna is soulful and full of motherly love.

The production value is of the high quality. State-of-the-art technical tools and gadgets have been used. The technical team manages to seamlessly create a rich tapestry of different landscapes, cities, and ambiences with a deft mix of digital media and solid props creating real-life-like structures on stage. Mathura,  Dwarka, Gokul – each landscape created on stage is unique and captivating.  The beautiful landscapes created as backdrops have a mesmerising effect on the viewers as they get transported to a new world.  The audience sees chariots coming in and out of the stage and life-size elephant props moving on the stage almost like real ones.

As we talk about the magnum opus of Krishna’s life, it will not be out of place to talk about the venue that is capable of hosting such plays. The Grand Theatre at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai hosted this spectacular musical play. The theatre is a first-of-its-kind Broadway-style theatre in India.  It’s opulent, grand,  charming and very atmospheric at the same time.

As soon as one enters from the gate, a walk through the passage with glittering glasswork on both sides and fresh, flowery intoxicating aroma soaks the person in the moment and welcomes him/her to a new experience. The main curtain at the stage is itself an elaborate stage drapery dominated by Indian motifs like peacocks, elephants, monkeys and lotus.  The balcony in the theatre vies for attention with its soft glow and adds a very unique old-world charm to the place. They have a low glistening colour mix of gold, yellow orange and red. Undoubtedly, the  Grand Theatre is a unique landmark in Mumbai.

However, the musical based on Krishna’s divine journey on earth is not only about a great spectacle on stage but the narration is imbued with deep philosophical insights on the way. This is possible due to a great team of creative artists joining hands to bring the life and times of Krishna on stage with aplomb. The director Omung Kumar’s hard work behind all the scenes and the well-known writer Prasoon Joshi’s efforts have made it possible to recreate tales from ancient India in such a captivating manner. Lots of detailing has gone into the costume design by Neeta Lulla. The attires of the lead characters always stand out but even the chorus has always been clothed beautifully.  The production team consists of not less than  100 artists including the actors.

It must have been a humongous task to manage such a huge group of artists. The team of  Shruti Sharma (director), Omung Kumar (production designer), Prasoon Joshi (writer), Sachin-Jigar (music director), Bertwin Ravi D’Souza and Shampa Gopikrishna ( Dance), have joined hands to truly create magic on stage.

Hopefully, Rajadhiraj will inspire similar productions and the Grand Theatre will be able to host more such events in future.

*The writer has also worked as an actor in the USA and India. His areas of interest include film, Yoga and literature.