Carmen has so many elements of a Bollywood blockbuster — a headstrong girl, two passionate men, mind-blowing passion, music, dance and a murder— that it is easy to relocate it from Seville, Spain, to the streets of Delhi. The story revolves around a beautiful gypsy girl, Carmen, who woos the young corporal Don Jose. Plunged in this destructive romance, Don Jose loses his job, fortune and family and is a destitute by the end of six months when Carmen tires of him. Her attention swings towards the macho Escamillo, leading to a tragic climax.

Patricia Panton, who earlier directed The Pearl Fishers for the Neemrana Music Foundation, is back in action with Carmen. “With its subject and catchy music, it is the perfect opera for Delhi, which is still developing a taste for the genre,” says the US-based Panton, who is a Carmen specialist, having directed this popular opera many times in the past. “To help people relate to it, the location is now India. The main action unfolds in Delhi, while one of the four acts takes place in the Himalayas. I call it a celebration of Delhiwood.”

In the Delhi version, Carmen is a Banjaran bidi roller, an indigenous twist to Bizet’s original in which she works in a cigarette factory. Don Jose is a constable in the Delhi Police while Escamillo, a matador in the French version, is a Bollywood star. The final confrontation takes place not during a bullfight but on the big night of a Hindi film premiere in Delhi. Add to this some club scenes and glitzy fusion wear and Kathak replacing Flamingo pieces, and you will have the new Carmen yoga.

Like The Pearl Fishers, Carmen has an international cast. “The 100-member cast and choir has 70 Indians and Sri Lankans and over 20 French singers,” says Panton. The only Indian in a major role is Vikrant Subramanian, who plays Moralès, a colleague of Don Jose’s. The lead performers are either French or Sri Lankan since “it is impossible to get the right voice in India as it does not have a tradition of opera training”, says Panton.

Carmen is played by Elsa Levy, a French singer who was chosen as much for her mezzo-soprano voice as for her Indian looks. “She has dark hair and dusky skin,” says Panton, adding that the performers have been practising since last year and she has been “putting the touches to the final picture” since her arrival in India last week. She is sure Bizet would have loved this bidi-rolling Carmen.