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Madhur Jaffrey
Cookery queen Madhur Jaffrey is joining cast of Bombay Dreams in a leading role.
Cookery queen Madhur Jaffrey is joining the cast of "Bombay Dreams" in a leading role.
Jaffrey, who has acted in "Shakespearewallah", "Heat and Dust" and popular BBC serial EastEnders, will be unveiled when Andrew Lloyds Webber takes his hit production to New York soon.
There was a bit of irony in Jaffrey landing the role. Her daughter Sakina had also been short-listed for a role in the play, but producers opted for Ayesha Dharkar who had earlier played the role of Rani when the play opened in London in 2002.
Jaffrey was married to actor Saeed Jaffrey. Her second husband is Sanford Allen, violinist.
Casting agents have seen hundreds of actors for the "Bombay Dreams" show in New York. Other major roles are to be played by Indian American actors such as Manu Narayan, Anisha Nagarajan, Sriram Ganesan, Marvin Ishamel and Deep Katdare.
The cast will arrive in London this week for rehearsals, according to a report in the Eastern Eye.
Lloyd-Webber is reported to have plans to take the play to Canada and India and also produce a film involving top Bollywood stars.
An aide close to the play said: "Indian food, clothes, music, books, TV and films have been the in thing for a few years here in Britain.
"But it is just taking off in America where producers are looking for fresh ideas and stories and Bollywood seems to be taking off there as well.
"Everyone feels that "Bombay Dreams" and its fine writing and music is arriving at the right time".
The play's writers include noted British Asian artiste Meera Syal.
