Enacting in Nagpur

Wittingly or unwittingly the evening of one-act plays was also a successful exercise in communal integration. While the thrust, initiative and direction was by Vikash Khurana, the cast and the audience was largely Parsi. Stagecraft, a Nagpur based group of theater buffs, put up three one-act comedies in English and Hinglish at the Vasantrao Deshpande Memorial Auditorium on July 28, 2004.

In Business As Usual the protagonist of the play Cyrus Screwwalla was played to perfection by Lalit Khullar. With his fair, handsome, good looks, rimmed glasses and crisp white shirt, he portrayed a new-age advertising account executive Parsi bawa brilliantly. In the cutthroat, dog eat dog world of advertising, he attempts to hoodwink a wealthy client, Ms Batliboi. But being the honest Parsi that he is, he fails miserably! The imperious Ms Batliboi, played convincingly by Parizad Daver, informs Screwwalla that she only deals with married men because bachelors cannot be trusted! Screwwalla’s vacuous secretary was delightfully portrayed by Armaity Daver, pretty and well meaning but with the brain of a bird!

Bhagwagar (left) and Dadina in Tandoori Delights

The second play Tandoori Delights was set in a dhaba of the same name. The board at the entrance reads "Tandoori Delite, Hotal and Restorant. Drinks Bar Bar. Owner Sardar Navjot Singh.” The brash and bearded sardar and his wife Simran, who Navjot Singh affectionately calls "O ye, méri kabutar” were played with panache by Naushad Bhag­wagar and Girnaz Dadina!

In The Bear Khurana as Deigo Arman­do Antonio Gonzalves blazes his swashbuckling way into the heart of a grieving widow Donna Paula (Sonal Thakur).

Retaining the basic elements of each play, Khurana spiced them up with MTV style music and dance to make them more contemporary and entertaining.

All credit for direction goes to Khurana, for production, to John Landge, and for choreography, to P. Daver.

Dilnavaz E. Bhagwagar