Bollywood will visit the Queen tonight at a gala celebration at Buckingham Palace in honour of the visit of President Pratibha Patil to the UK at the end of this month. The Bollywood dance troupe, Nutkhut, will be performing in front of 300 guests in the Grand Ballroom. “We came here and were very excited about it,” said Ajay Chhabra of the troupe, “The columns, the fabrics — the bling of it stood out.”
The group consists of five women and three men and will be performing a routine, Bollywood Steps, described as decidedly sexy and hot. Simmy Gupta of the band explained, “Bollywood Steps is me growing up in England being a British Asian. It is influenced by Bollywood films and Hollywood films. It goes from my classically trained background to contemporary hip-hop. It is up to date, really sexy and hot.”
The show is performed in a red-and-gold canopy as used in the Delhi Durbar of 1911. As well as the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke and Duchess of Wessex, Prince Michael of Kent and cricketer Monty Panesar will also be present. “The Queen has seen Bollywood dancing before during a visit to Bradford but this is the first time we have had it at Buckingham Palace,” said a spokesman for the Palace.
