Guest Blog: Sâmir Bhamra: The Founder of Phizzical on the Importance of New ACE Funding and the Art of Bollywood

Phizzical is a small funded company, currently touring a large scale South Asian musical. Before we reached The Lowry in Salford, we'd been hit by Covid. Our determination not to cancel performances played a major role in re-igniting audiences to return to theatres post Covid. Like others, we anxiously awaited the outcome of the NPO announcements. There had been delays - as a sector we knew changes were afoot.

In a miraculous moment, Phizzical, a company I founded almost twenty years ago, was told we will be one of the 276 new organisations joining ACE's national portfolio of 990 organisations. This news will provide us with a stable pathway to realise our purpose of reaching and engaging with all-too-often ignored communities and create entertaining work informed by their stories, which connects with our communities.

We recognise that we must be brave and authentic, as well as open to the promise of change. We must support the opportunity to work in new ways, to deliver quality work and new partnerships, whilst nurturing diverse talent and increasing engagement.

At Phizzical we have always strived to make work that fizzes. The 'cal' in our name, refers to the South Asian word 'kal' meaning both yesterday and tomorrow. Influenced by our histories, we tell tomorrow's stories today.

We develop our communities' hidden artistic talent, diversifying the national pool of professional artists. We use Bollywood art forms as a vehicle to tell our communities' stories in entertaining, engaging, and quality work that tours nationally, be it Shakespeare's Cymbeline set in Bombay and Dubai, looking at Hindu-Muslim relationships; an immersive visual arts and performance installation, Ticket 2 Bollywood, for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Cultural Olympiad; the national tour of the musical Bring on the Bollywood, or the first iteration of Stardust, addressing South Asian cultural values and philosophy through a Bollywood musical about same-sex marriages.

Our current and Phizzical's 50th project, retro Bollywood musical Bombay Superstar, is made for our parents and grandparents, using songs from Bollywood films of the legendary actor, Amitabh Bachchan, whose films instilled hope in the newly migrant SA families, integrating divergent communities across caste, religion and class.

Our successful run at The Lowry saw South Asian audiences return repeatedly, bringing with them new audiences, sharing with us the need for our work:

"Productions like this are so important for us to connect to what our parents loved and passed onto us."

For many working-class, British-born South Asians and immigrants, the 1960's Bollywood cinema was a way of life. These stories gave us a value system beyond the mythological texts or film reinterpretations of Shakespeare's plays. The stars and their characters were role models for our parents. Their interviews challenged the imperialistic morals left by the British post-independence, with some of the leading heroines paving the way for progressive attitudes towards equality for South Asian women.

"Phizzical deserve praise for exposing the sexism... championing women's rights and girl power."

Phizzical enables a greater understanding of South Asian communities. The recent tension in Leicester demonstrated what I, a mixed faith South Asian, has said for over three decades: "We are not all the same, but one thing that unites us is a good Bollywood song and dance - nostalgia that Bombay Superstar evokes".

In the Arts Council England's richer and more varied portfolio, Phizzical will help ignite creativity and support the next generation of visionary artists. We want to work with partners to commission, co-produce and programme work that questions and engages and be part of a changing culture to transform access to the arts. What we hope is that there are partner organisations able to join us on this vital journey.

Bombay Superstar is at MAST until 19 November

Click here for more information on Phizzical

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