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Dream Girl: Preeya Kalidas
Meet the lead star of Andrew Llyod Webber's latest musical .
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Arthur J Pais
Preeya Kalidas knows well that many newcomers who get a lucky break often say they wanted to act from their childhood.
“But it is absolutely true in my case. I first thought of acting when I was just about three,” the 22 year old gushes.
As the star of the newly opened $7 million musical, Bombay Dreams, Kalidas has got one of the biggest breaks in West End history.
“I am the first Asian to ever play the lead in an Andrew Lloyd Webber production," she says passionately. However, she adds, she would not have been sad had she got just a key part in it.
"In a way I feel I have been incredibly lucky," says Kalidas whose previous acting assignments include a bit role in the British comedy--Bend It Like Beckham and the lead in an independent British film, Bombay Queen.
She hastens to add there was some divine intervention as well. Nearly three years ago, Kalidas learnt about Lloyd Webber’s plan to produce a lavish musical in London.
“But there were hardly any details available because nobody was sure how it was going to shape up,” she says.
“I was sure about what I wanted,” she adds with a chuckle. “I wanted to be in that show.”
She had heard it would have an entirely Asian cast. Kalidas, who grew up in a small Middlesex city speaking English and Gujarati, and has watched South Asian actors such as Naveen Andrews and Jami Mistry getting plum roles in mainstream movies, was waiting for a golden opportunity--be it theatre or cinema.
"I had grown up listening to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music and I have simply adored many of the shows he has produced apart from writing them, particularly Cats,” she says. “Everyone who has seen Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Phantom of the Opera knows he is a legend.”
“I thought I would be incredibly lucky to find a part in his new show.”
Kalidas, who has worked as a part-time accountant and done several other jobs, admits that she had unsuccessfully auditioned for many West End shows, including Jesus Christ Superstar. Since none of the calls translated into roles, she says she decided to seek parts in movies and television.
Then, last year when her mother made a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash she made a special vow and one of Kalidas' bracelets which she offered to the Gods.
A few weeks after her mother’s pilgrimage, Kalidas heard from Lloyd Webber. She had bagged the part.
Now that she has the lead in the musical and has received some good notices for her performance as a young woman who takes over a movie project after her producer-father is murdered, she says she might consider a pilgrimage herself.
Her mother, an administrator with British Airways, had always supported Kalidas' desire to become an actress. Her father, a financial adviser, too did not believe Asians should limit themselves to traditional careers.
"We are a traditional family but there was an openness all around us," she says.
Her parents grew up in East Africa before migrating to England which, she says, gave them a liberal streak. They allowed her to take acting lessons and she was able to train at reputed institutes like London's Sylvia Young Theatre School.
But some of her relatives were not very happy, she confesses. They wondered why she was not going to a university. Others thought she should get married.
"Many Asian girls think of nothing but getting married and starting a family," she says with a sigh. She too wants to have a family and babies. "But there were other priorities."
"Working in a Lloyd Webber production is like being in a Hollywood movie," Kalidas says. Many of Hollywood's independent films like Monster's Ball (which fetched actress Halle Barry an Oscar) were made in less than $5 million.
Even though the musical itself has received mixed reviews, many writers agree Kalidas shows promise, while others praised her rendition of A R Rahman's complex tunes.
"They are doing an amazing job, particularly Preeya," says Rahman. "She has some of the more difficult numbers in the show. It is amazing to work with people who not only sing but have to act and dance at the same time."
And what is Kalidas' ultimate destination?
"Bollywood would be nice," she says. "I want to be in mainstream British and American shows too. In mainstream movies. I want to do other things than just playing an Indian. I believe it should all be about talent, not the colour of one's skin."