To say that Anita Majumdar is a good actress is an understatement.

Her theatre performances include Bloom, a Modern Times Stage production by the  Governor General award winning playwright Guillermo Verdecchia, Tales from Ovid, performed at the Centaur Theatre and now she is back by popular demand in the play, Bombay Black written by acclaimed Vancouver novelist Anosh Irani.

Majumdar received her first acting award at the Asian Festival of First Films in Singapore in the film, Murder Unveiled based on the true-life story of Jassi Sidhu produced by CBC. Jassi’s murder has also been told in three other documentaries, including NBC’s Forbidden Love.

“Words cannot describe my relief to know that dramatizing Jassi’s circumstances has resurrected an outcry,” Anita said in a letter sent to Asian Pacific Post.

In Bombay Black, Majumdar plays the role of Apsara, an Indian dancer, whose extraordinary beauty and erotically charged dancing cast a powerful spell over her wealthy and famous clientele. In a seaside flat, the iron-willed Padma takes money from men so they may watch her daughter, Apsara, perform a mesmerizing dance.

 Bombay Black is a remarkable new Canadian work—at times lyrical and funny, at other times chillingly brutal. Irani creates some haunting, unforgettable images­­ — a mother threatening to feed her daughter to ravenous birds, a grieving widow covered in her husband’s ashes and two lovers soaring over the Gateway of India in a flying carriage.
Though at times he presents us with some disturbingly dark images, Irani’s Bombay Black is ultimately a poignantly romantic vision.        By seamlessly weaving realism with elements of myth and magic, Irani takes his characters (and consequently, the audience) on fantastic voyages of the imagination.

The Globe and Mail described the play as “Sensuous, lyrical, mysterious, sordid, grotesque, romantic and highly emblematic” while Elle Magazine describe it as, “Intrigue, betrayal, love and seduction. This month’s most riveting watch on Mumbai’s theatre circuit is Bombay Black.”

Majumdar is an acting graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada and holds a degree in English, Theatre and South Asian Languages from the University of British Columbia.  

Dancing for the last nine years, Majumdar’s training originates in Kathak, but she has also studied Bharat Natyam, a type of yoga, and Odissi, a Mahari traditional of dance.

Bombay Black is playing until March 15 at the Vancouver Arts Club on Granville Island Stage located at  1585 Johnston St. For tickets, call 604.687.1644.