An endless laugh riot

Photo: (From left: Poppat (Sagar Karande), Kashmira Shah, and Ajay (Yogesh Pagare)

In a brilliant comedy, ‘Tera Ghar Ke Saamne’, Bollywood actress Kashmira Shah impresses, along with other stage talents, at the JT Pac auditorium

By Shevlin Sebastian

The play opens with a man, Kutty (Vinod Gaikar), lying on the floor, while both his legs are placed on a low glass-topped table. Another man, Poppat (Sagar Karande), is sleeping on a sofa covered by a sheet, while a third, Ajay (Yogesh Pagare), is at one side, next to the wall, dozing off on a chair with an open mouth. There are a few empty Kingfisher beer bottles placed on the floor.

When the bell rings, Kutty shakes his legs assuming it is music that he is hearing. Finally, Poppat asks him to go and look at the door. A sleepy Kutty heads for the bathroom before Poppat shouts at him that the door is on the other side.

Kutty says, “Saw it!”

“Who is there?’ asks Poppat.

“A door,” says Kutty.

And thus begins an utterly crazy play called ‘Tere Ghar Ke Saamne’.

Bollywood actress Kashmira Shah is the heroine and plays Kashmira, who plans a kidnapping of herself, because she is crazy for publicity. And there is confusion galore, because she is supposed to be kidnapped by crime boss, Yedanna, for a fee of Rs. 2 lakh.
Instead, these three youngsters do the job.

In between house owner P.K. Tully (Rajesh Puri) drops in, and creates all sorts of tensions for the group because Poppat is living illegally with the others.

The play moves ahead, swiftly and with poise, with numerous one-liners sprinkled throughout, evoking constant laughs and guffaws from the mostly North-Indian audience at the JT Pac auditorium at Kochi.

Example: Poppat asks Ajay to administer Chloromint to Kashmira to knock her unconscious. And Ajay yells, “You idiot, it is chloroform and not chloromint.”

When they shout too much at each other, everybody says, “Ssssh” loudly, and poor Poppat is reminded of his childhood when his mother used to say the same thing when he was taken to the toilet. Poppat struggles to control himself on stage, bending his legs and contorting his face. A hilarious moment indeed!

Kashmira, of course, looks sexy with a tight red top and torn black leggings, as well as leather boots. In a few scenes, she wears white bunny ears. Sometimes, she is laughing, then she is crying. Later, she jumps on the sofa, slaps the kidnappers, plays coy, and rolls on the floor, throwing a tantrum: a typical Bollywood diva.

All the cast members impressed with their acting. Rajesh Puri is a veteran, with over 5000 stage performances, while Vinod plays the South Indian Kutty with aplomb, with the right tonal inflections, and so does the gang leader, Yogesh. But the show-stealer was Sagar (Poppat) whose brilliant comic timing and facial expressions brought the house down repeatedly. It was a rib-tickling show throughout.

 No wonder the audience had smiles on their faces as they left the hall.

(The New Indian Express, Kochi)