How often are you treated to a play centered around 'erectile dysfunction'? And how often does it not get carried away towards crude humor? Well, today's presentation, 'Rafta Rafta' by AK various productions, had all the good stuff and laughs in it. And what should be considered an event of immense pride for the Fourth wall, it was the first ever premier of a play at the IITB stage.
The crowd was less compared to day 1; maybe quite a few were still recharging their grey cells after the sub-par performance the other day. The introductory announcement of the play being unsuitable for audience members below 15 made quite a few families walk out of LT (there were also a few families who manned up and stayed for a hilarious encore). Written by Aakarsh Khurana, the plot revolved around an Indian immigrant family in the UK. The father, a simpleton from a village in Punjab, still has the punjabi in him alive after all these years of hobnobbing with the English. The son marries a muslim girl from a Pakistani immigrant family, and the chemistry between the two families is hilarious right from scene one, where the Punjabi wants to celebrate with drinks and dance, while the Pakistani father remains uptight about the whole affair. However, things take a turn for the worse when the husband is unable to satisfy his wife for 6 weeks after marriage, and the news leaks out to the bride's mother and from there to the whole mohalla. The element of erectile dysfunction was finely woven into the intricacies of a strained father-son relationship, while the girl has her own family issues with a cold marriage between her parents. There is a happy ending and as an audience, you can't help but smile at the cleverness of the writer.
Positives:
The script was tight and stayed focused on the marital issues of the newly wed boy and how is family is affected by the whole deal. The actors did a marvelous job, specially the actor who played the father (imagine your neighborhood Punjabi uncle with a fat belly and infectious laughter). The dialogues, full of intended puns and a fine mix of English and Punjabi were memorable. The team managed to do well with the limited capacity of the LT stage.
Negatives:
None really, but I could have personally enjoyed some more of the Punjabi music. Only the bar scene towards the climax seemed a bit forced on the script, but it didn't really divert the play's direction.
Memorable dialogues:
Quite a few actually. The crowd responded favorably to every single punch.
1. "Aunty, sharbat-e-ganga' dena?"
"Beta wo kya hai?"
"Are booze aunty, booze."
2. Aditya (the groom) checking out the new blackberry gifted to him by his wife-"Papa, this phone has been gifted by Tasneem."
Papa-"So what, today is your wedding night. You should do some bhangra. My father gifted me a buffalo on my wedding, but I didn't go on and milk it the entire night!"
3. Tasneem while discussing her husband's issue-"You need to relax. Things will otherwise get harder from here on, okay, maybe not in your case."
4. Mother-"Go, look at him, talk to your son about his problem. It would be awkward if I do it."
Father-"But I haven't seen Adi naked since he was 4!"
Mother-"I am asking you to talk to him, not to look at his problem directly."
5. Rather crude actually, but the crowd was roaring with laughter each time the father said this in the last scene-"Look at this Adi, he just barged in as if he going to do tatti in a kheth."
Overall, the play was pretty fun. The group is performing it again today (Jan 15) at Tata theater (NCPA). Worth checking out if you have nothing productive to do over the weekend.
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