New Delhi, (BIJ News) Aditya Chopra is adapting his much celebrated project ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’ (DDLJ)...
Aditya Chopra is adapting his much celebrated project ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’ (DDLJ) into a Musical Broadway titled ‘Come Fall In Love’.
“With this show, the YRF head honcho is trying to tell an important and relevant thing in today’s times. The show is about the celebration of inclusivity and diversity in a world that’s getting polarised and is about the celebration of love and how it can unify people and cultures and break down all barriers,” the makers said in an official statement on Friday.
The makers of ‘Come Fall in Love’, which is premiering at the legendary Old Globe theatre on September 14, announced its cast last week. Aditya Chopra will be directing a cast of 30, which includes Shoba Narayan as Simran, Austin Colby as Rog Mandel, Irvine Iqbal as Baldev, Rupal Pujara as Lajjo, Vishal Vaidya as Ajit, Siddharth Menon as Kuljit, Kate Loprest as Emily “Minky” Soulard, Juice Mackins as Ben, Hannah Jewel Kohn as Cookie, Jeremy Kushnier as Roger Mandel, Sr, Amita Batra, Neha Dharmapuram, Tiffany Engen, Rohit Gijare, Marc A Heitzman as Ensemble, Usman Ali Ishaq, Nika Lindsay, Ilda Mason, Caleb Mathura, Meher Mistry, Shannon Mullen, Shahil Patel, Zain Patel, Becca Petersen, Kinshuk Sen, Jack Sippel, Michael Starr, Geatali Tampy, and Sonya Venugopal.
Soon after this announcement, Michelin star and chef Vikas Khanna took to Twitter and expressed his displeasure on Austin Colby's casting in the DDLJ Broadway, in the iconic role of Raj Malhotra, played by superstar Shah Rukh Khan in the film.
He tweeted, "Raj is our childhood, youth, love & pride. Many Westerners will never understand what DDLJ means to us. I just saw HOUSEFULL show of @kiterunnerbway on BROADWAY w all colored cast. It received standing applause. Let’s not make our kids feel less on our own stage #DDLJMusical."
Reacting to Vikas's tweet on Friday, music composer Vishal Dadlani took to Twitter and wrote, "Hi Vikas. Followed and appreciated your compassion during the Covid pandemic, so felt like I had to reply to you re: ‘Come Fall in Love - The DDLJ Musical’. Adi, Shekhar and I hope to represent India, our culture and our inclusive ethos with pride! CFIL has two cultures, meeting as equals, thru two young people in love. The cast is rich with South Asians playing South Asian characters and India is the most vibrant and glorious character on our stage! I promise you, we will do us all proud. I'd request you to come watch our show and see for yourself. Would be great to have you there!"
‘Come Fall In Love’ has many firsts for India and Indians. For the first time, an Indian director, Aditya Chopra, debuts on Broadway. It is also the first Bollywood musical to be on Broadway. It has Vishal and Sheykhar debuting too as composers. Shruti Merchant will do her first Broadway musical as Associate Choreographer.
The show champions diversity and every department from cast to technicians is a beautiful confluence of East and West as Indians and South Asian representation is at the heart of this show.
For The Old Globe production, the musical begins performances September 1 and runs to October 16, 2022, with the official Opening on Wednesday, September 14.
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