SEVERAL hundred thousand English fans of Indian cinema and food need not bother about travelling to Bombay to see Bollywood from close and to sample the fare coming out of the city�s melting pot of cuisines. For Selfridges, UK�s premier departmental store, has taken both, the cinema and food, to its patrons through an extravagant and unique promotion called �Bollywood�. This is currently on at Selfridges� stores in London�s Oxford Street and at the Manchester Trafford Centre and will continue till May 26.

Vittorio Radice, chief executive of Selfridges, the enthusiast responsible for taking the flavour of Bollywood culture to London, says: �Bollywood is a world of incredible, teeming opulence. Its movies never rest, continually attracting you with their colours, contrast, music, extravagant romance and movement. Wonderfully all over the place and full of contradiction and glamour.� He has transformed Selfridges into a celebration of Bollywood, a joyful subversion of contemprary design values.

Explains Radice: �I think we understand now that clean lines, simplicity and order can never really be fixed... life just isn�t like that. The time has come to explore a new attitude, for us to have fun in a world in which there�s a place for everything, and where anything goes. So we have said goodbye to the niceties of taste, to carefully defined categories and restraint. And what we have presented is something different, and because this is Bollywood, it is on a epic scale.�

Indeed it is. Selfridges� �Bollywood� is with its energy, adornment and diversity, with its gorgeous sounds and visual imagery, rich fabrics and jamboree of objects. There are deliciously gaudy ornaments as well as precious handmade treasures. Gems and glitter are not kept apart on grounds of taste, but have been allowed to shine together. There are drapes, giant posters, garlands and decorative elephants, even a Royal Enfield �Bullet� motorcycle! As well as their trappings, there are the films themeselves and appearances of some of the stars.

James Bidwell, managing director of Selfridges, puts it simply: �What we have is the authentic Bollywood experience, fantasy made even more thrilling by the possibility that the real thing may be close by.� It is true, for Raddice adds, �Everybody has access to the world of dreams of stars and celebrities, of impossible love and extraordinary riches. And just as everybody has access to these dreams through the silver screen, at Bollywood at Selfridges is a scene for people of all ages, and all tastes, to wonder at for free.�

To resemble Bollywood, Selfridges has been transformed by a series of sets on a grand scale by Nitin Desai, one of India�s most celebrated designers and the man behind the sets of the Oscar-nominated Lagaan. The film set metaphor is further extended by the meticulous full-scale reconstruction of an entire floor of film star�s Dimple Kapadia�s home by designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla who are renowned for their designs of clothes, furniture and decorative arts employing India�s beautiful traditional craft skills.

Selfridges� customers are experiencing Bollywood lifestyle throughout the store and meeting the artists themselves in live performances of dance and music, film screenings, exclusive fashion shows, through a series of discussions and master classes in association with the British Film Institute with leading Bollywood directors, actors, designers and choreographers. Film memorabilia from hit films features alongside beautiful handcrafted home accessories, interior furnishings and a diverse selection of music as well as an exhibition of 35-40 specially commissioned film posters reworked by celebrated Indian artist Baba Anand.

The Bollywood promotion also showcases the talents of leading Indian fashion designers who have found a medium of expression through cinema. Such as Tarun Tahiliani, Rohit Bal, Shahab Durazi, Manish Malhotra, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Aki Narula, Abrahan & Thakore, Anshu Arora Sen, the couture house Ogaan, Geetanjali Kasyap, Monisha Jaising, Rina Dhaka, Rohini Khosla, Rocky S, Sunita Shankar, Shreela Debi. Original items worn by the stars in Bollywood films including 15-20 complete celebrity outfits taken from famous films are also on sale. And the Selfridges Beauty Hall is now a technocolour Bollywood boudoir where shoppers are being turned into Bollywood divas with the aid of M.A.C., the make-up brand of Bollywood�s celebrities.

Now for the food! The Taj Group of Hotels is providing the cuisine to Selfridges for the Bollywood promotion. It is mainly its experitse in Indian food that Taj has given Selfridges in the form of its two top chefs, Executive Chef Hemant Oberoi of the Taj Mahal Hotel of Bombay and Executive Chef Ananda Solomon of the Taj President Hotel in Bombay. Together with Selfridges Executive Chef Jerome Dutois and their kitchen teams of 20, both chefs are working in conjunction with the executive chefs of two London restaurants owned and managed by the Taj, Vikram Sunderam of the Bombay Brasserie and Aylur Sriram of the Quilon restaurant respectively.

Inspired by the interior designs of these two Indian restaurants, the Premier Restaurant at Selridges in London has been transformed by Nitin Desai into a contemporary Bollywood restaurant that is offering west coastal cuisines with specialities from Bombay, Goa, Kerala and other regional Indian cuisines in an Indian style atmosphere. Bombay Brasserie and Quilon are also providing a range of Indian food and delicacies to the sweet counters and Food Halls and Cafes in both Selfridges� stores. From in-store spice markets offering Ayurvedic spices to street food specialities, both stores are paying tribute to the exciting and diverse Indian cuisines.

Selfridges is also offering tiffin boxes which are a feature of daily life in Bombay, and which are being filled with its customers� choice of food or a set menu such as chicken curry, rice and bread. There is a dedicated juice counter offering a variety of delicious Indian juices, including mango, papaya and sweet lime, which is almost impossible to find in UK. Plus a tea counter offering Indian chai and Selfridges� famous fish counter putting up the catch of the day from Indian coastal waters, such as the white and black pomfret. And at its Food Garden Cafe, street food specialities, dhaba-style, of Bombay, that are enjoyed by Bollywood stars and office-goers, have been recreated. The include dosas, curries and biryanis.