Spread across a large six-acre site at the apex of the golden triangle of Jaipur, Agra and Delhi, Kingdom of Dreams boasts venues of international standard, namely the Nautanki Mahal and Showshaa theatres, and a cultural and cuisine area known as Culture Gully.
Nautanki Mahal is an 848-seat auditorium with an ornate facade designed like a palace that serves as the park's main entertainment space. Consulting lighting designer for the theatre is well-respected German LD Jerry Appelt, who also designed the lighting for the theatre's debut show, Zangoora - the Gypsy Prince, an extravagant cinematic and theatrical musical billed as "the biggest Bollywood musical show ever".
"Nautanki Mahal features the Zangoora show but also hosts other shows and events," Appelt comments. "It's really a very multi-purpose space and therefore needed a flexible house rig to cover the various events. It was very important to have a reliable system and I know the MAC series well. They are reliable workhorses and very flexible."
The theatre rig is made up of mostly MAC 2000 series fixtures - Martin MAC 2000 Wash XB, MAC 2000 Wash, MAC 2000 Profile and MAC 2000 Performance luminaires, plus Atomic 3000 strobe effects. Adding to the mystical atmosphere of Zangoora is ground-hugging fog from Jem Glaciator X-Stream heavy foggers along with smoke effects from Martin Magnum 2000 smoke machines.
The Martin lighting for Kingdom of Dreams is supported through Martin Professional's Indian office based in Bangalore.
"Support is very important on a project like this and it is nice to have the local Martin support in India for testing, maintenance, demos," Appelt stated. "When you need to show the automated luminaires against, for example, PAR cans, the MACs will just sell themselves, but you have to get the equipment on site so you can make the comparison! That's a key step. You also have to convince the client what is behind the lighting as far as service and support, so it's important to have a company like Martin behind you."
Appelt also completed the lighting design for the palatial outdoor facade of the theatre and chose Martin Exterior 1200, Exterior 600 and Inground 200 luminaires. The Exterior series fixtures are mounted in groups and illuminate the entire façade in a uniform wash of saturated colours, typically in Indian orange, that give the structure a stunning night time look.
Additional Martin lighting at Kingdom of Dreams includes a line of Martin Tripix 1200 outdoor LED strip lights mounted on an anterior wall to uplight Indian relief art, and additional Exterior 600s used to add colour to the Culture Gully, a lavish air-conditioned indoor boulevard full of Indian culinary delights and shops.
(Jim Evans)
