The
comedy, ‘Rafta Rafta’, engages a Kochi audience with its
slapstick lines and an unforgettable slice of Indian life in London
By
Shevlin Sebastian
The
play, ‘Rafta Rafta’, opens in the living room of a middle-aged
Punjabi couple, Vishu and Suman Malhotra, in London. Their son, Adi,
has just got married to a Muslim girl, Tasneem, and there is a
celebration in the house.
But
Adi is strait-laced and will not drink and enjoy despite the
entreaties of his father. Instead, he is busy looking at his mobile
phone. “Why is he always pressing his fingers on that object?”
asks Vishu.
Says
Tasneem: “Daddyji, that is a Blackberry. I gave it as a wedding
gift to Adi.”
Retorts
Vishu: “My father gave me a buffalo during my wedding. I didn’t
go crazy over it.”
Meanwhile,
the lights fade, and on the right is the kitchen. As Tasneem prepares
tea for Adi, her mother, Fatima, tells Suman, “I used to go to
sleep and wake up the next morning and think, ‘Raat Ko Ho Gaya’
(It happened during the night).”
Tasneem
says, “Ma, I won't have that problem. I have read all about the
theory of sex.”
Fatima
says, “Is that enough? Men are guided by what is between their
legs. But without love, marriage is a long, slow death.”
Back
to the living room: there is an arm wrestling contest between Vishu
and Tony Chopra, a cinema owner, which the former wins hands down. “I
used the Cobra technique,” says a gloating Vishu. He goads his son
to play, and for a while, it would seem that Adi would win, but
finally, it is Vishu who is triumphant. “It was a long slow
squeeze,” says Vishu. “This time it was the python method.”
On
elevated stages are two bedrooms: one for the newly wedded couple,
and the other for Adi’s parents. So, the curtain never drops during
the play. And the scenes blend seamlessly from the living room to the
kitchen to the bedrooms.
Adi,
like the typical repressed Indian, fails to consummate his marriage
and looks bereft. When Fatima comes to visit Tasneem, she confides in
her mother about Adi’s non-performance. A desperate Fatima says,
“Maybe it happened so fast you did not notice it.”
After
six weeks, Fatima tells Suman and Vishu, “It has not taken place.
Tasneem is still a virgin. Your son is defective material.”
Suman
is upset by the description of her son. “How can she say our son is
defective?” she tells Vishu. Says a morose Vishu: “Adi and I have
never discussed anything below the belt.”
Soon,
Tony comes to know. He confronts and mocks Adi. “I’ll do the work
for you,” says Tony. His wife, Molly, a Britisher, in tight jeans
and stiletto heels, slaps him and says he has been a non-performer
for years.
Back
at home, as expected, Adi accuses his wife of betraying him and there
is a physical scuffle. It seems as if their marriage is coming to an
end.
But
in the last scene, both Adi and Tasneem have made up and they tell
their families that they are going for a honeymoon to Blackpool, just
like Adi's parents, Vishu and Suman did so many years ago.
When
Vishu hears this, he wipes away the tears from his eyes. He looks at
his younger son, Raj, and says, “At your age when you are very
happy, you start laughing. At my age, we start crying.”
It
is a poignant end to a wonderful play, written by Ayub Khan-Din of
‘East is East’ fame. This particular programme, at the JT Pac,
Kochi, was staged by the Mumbai-based theatre group, Akvarious. It
was directed by Tahira Nath and Akash Khurana, who plays Vishu. The
other characters include Umar, an assistant projectionist and friend
of Adi, a Punjabi couple, and Fatima’s husband, Khalid.
“It
was slapstick comedy at its best, but there were a lot of life
lessons in it also,” says John George, an audience member.
Yes,
at the end of the play, one was left wondering about how we Indians
behave the same all over the world.
(The New Indian Express, Kochi)
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