But Bollywood isn’t the world’s largest film industry for no reason; it’s a formula that works, particularly when it’s as self-aware of its flaws as “Taj Express” is. Originally created in Mumbai, “Taj Express” was evidently conceived as a cultural emissary of sorts, a production to preach the glory of the genre to international audiences (it toured the U.K. before its current jaunt on this side of the pond). As its musical backbone, “Taj Express” celebrates the “Mozart of Madras,” A.R. Rahman, the much-lauded composer of films like Deepa Mehta’s “Water,” and Danny Boyle’s “127 Hours” and “Slumdog Millionaire.” “Taj Express” unleashes the crowd-pleasing “Jai Ho” in only the second number. But who has time to think about the implications of politics, or even reality, with a spectacle like this?

Source: thestar November 25, 2019 23:14 UTC