4 Dora Awards including:
Outstanding New Play
Outstanding Set Design
Costume Design
Sound Design/Composition
- plus nominations for Outstanding Production and Lighting Design

“Intrigue, betrayal, love and seduction. This month’s most riveting watch on Mumbai’s theatre circuit is Bombay Black.”
– ELLE MAGAZINE

“Irani entwines fantasy with reality...a moving story.”
– TIME OUT MUMBAI

“It is a play that proves the strength of love over hatred and the power of dreams over the desire for revenge. Bombay Black deals with horrific realities and difficult choices. The play succeeds in being both grotesque and poignant.”
– THE HINDU, NEW DELHI

"Bombay Black has taken the gender war to where it should belong. It no longer considers femininity to be the obliging lump of flesh for male chauvinism to knead, pound and mould into carnal subjugation. In contrast, femininity here is a hissing snake with unadulterated anger, writhing and waiting to pounce upon the sinning male for revenge. Bombay Black is a searing play.”
– THE PIONEER, NEW DELHI

“A gripping tale about Apsara, a radiant and beautiful dancer, who is forced to perform for men at the behest of her hardened-by-circumstances mother, Padma. Padma’s dry sense of humour, delivered matter-of-factly with perfect timing…our attention never wavers. Sound, sets and lights fade away as the three actors bring the stage alive on the strength of their talent."
– THE BUSINESS STANDARD, NEW DELHI

"The acting is brilliant. Apsara as a dancer is fabulous, Kamal with his convincing dialogue delivery, holds the spectator, but Padma with her wicked sense of humour steals the show. Bombay Black brings to fore ugly contrasts and a precarious balance between hope and despair."
–EVERY TUESDAY

"The play's plot is engaging and the acting is impressive. The excellent use of lighting in a limited space deserves mention."
– THE ASIAN AGE

"Anosh Irani creates a world of magic and realism that simultaneously exist in his play. The story and characters comfortably travel in and out of reality with the help of their imagination; one minute they are in the living room, the next in a golden chariot."
– MID DAY

**** (4 stars) "Bombay Black focuses on the complex and conflicting relationship between an angry old woman (the versatile Deena Aziz) and her daughter Apsara (Anita Majumdar), a beautiful exotic dancer. When Apsara's client Kamal (Sanjay Talwar) unearths secrets from the family's past, the two characters take on an unexpected depth and darkness. This sudden and seamless tonal shift establishes one of Bombay Black's many graceful contrasts. Playwright Anosh Irani carefully navigates between convincing casual conversation and rich lyricism...a precarious balance between beautiful mythology and ugly realism, between hope and despair. "
— EYE WEEKLY

NNNN – "Anosh Irani's sultry, spooky and surreal tale of thwarted love and bittersweet revenge. Anita Majumdar plays Apsara with emotional and physical force. Opposite Sanjay Talwar's gentle, dreamy Kamal, their relationship beautifully captures the optimism of love against all odds. Director Brian Quirt tackles the story with a strong sense of scene composition, anchoring Irani's text with strong, often disturbing images. "
— NOW MAGAZINE

"...lovely theatre, well-designed, nicely staged, intriguingly acted and promisingly written... a masterful blend of eroticism and mystery."
— TORONTO STAR

 "The play unfolds partly as a love story, partly as a study in the oldest of all dramatic subjects, the ethics of revenge.  Pungent and lyrical and sometimes witty. Line by line, Irani never hits a false note."
— NATIONAL POST
 
“Sensuous, lyrical, mysterious, sordid, grotesque, romantic and highly emblematic...”
— GLOBE AND MAIL