Ipswich Indian charity brings Bollywood actors to town

This has been done to celebrate the festival of Gudi Padwa, a spring festival marking the start of the lunisolar generally celebrated along the western coast of India.

The charity, Maratha Mandal was set up as a non-profit organisation in 2022, to bring together Marashtrians, or people from the state of Maharashtra, in Suffolk and Ipswich. 

One of the founders of the charity and the host of the Gudi Padwa celebration, Dr Pravin Desai said: "We set up this foundation because earlier we would have to go to London to see such projects. 

"We instead wanted to celebrate our identity right here in Ipswich."

He added that setting up this particular celebration has been a great success for them, as they have already seen a lot of positive responses to it. 

The celebration will include Indian classical dances and Bollywood music (Image: PA)

The festival celebration is set to take place in the New Wosley Theatre on Saturday, April 20, at 7pm. 

It will include Bollywood actors Rutuja Junnarkar, Sharvari Jamenis, Hemangi Kavi and Vaishnavi Patil. 

Jamenis and Kavi are amongst the two more decorated actors having made several movies in both Hindi and Marathi. 

Kavi's most recent work includes an Amazon Prime series called Guilty Minds which was nominated for several national awards. 

Meanwhile, Jamenis has had work spanning decades, including movies where she has acted alongside India's most renowned actor Shahrukh Khan. 

Junnarkar and Patil are younger dancers who have recently entered the film industry. 

All four of them along with local dancers will be putting on a show at the Theater.

They will be playing a medley of Bollywood songs while performing the Indian classical dance of Kathak and the Maharashtrian folk dance called Lavani. 

Dr Desai said: "This is a great initiative for our young organisation to be able to bring people from Mumbai to Ipswich."