Basking in the Sunshine

In the second half of November, sunshine in Bombay will assume different colors and tones. Its resplendence will be associated not just with heat and light but also caring and sharing. With the staging of three shows of Sunshine Boys, Percival Billi­moria and his unit, The Amateur Performers Bureau (APB), will add a new dimension to meaningful theater.

While the production and theater costs will be borne by Billimoria, the proceeds from the sale of tickets and souvenir will be shared by four nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) committed to the cause of education: The Education Audiology and Research (EAR) Society founded by Meher Vakeel to detect and manage hearing loss from the earliest age, Nanhi Kali that pursues education and all round development of the girl child, Mumbai Mobile Creches (MMC) that provide day care centers and informal education to children on construction sites and CHIP Mumbai that works with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) schools to facilitate total childcare through public/private partnership.

"This is a much better option for me personally than just cutting cheques in favor of charities,” explains Delhi based Billimoria, a corporate lawyer and a senior partner in the legal firm AZB and Partners. "I fund the entire production cost (APB has no donors as yet other than myself). The payback is that for the cost of the production we can raise much more for the charity… All the proceeds of Sunshine Boys have always gone to a charity,” he explains in an e-mail interview. Last year they did four shows which ran to a full house each time. For the Delhi shows the beneficiary was Cankids which supports the families of kids suffering from cancer.

APB as a non-profit organization was established primarily to launch artistes who lacked the wherewithal to showcase their talent. Not interested in accepting grants from government or other private parties Billimoria is hopeful that "the enthusiasm of those who initially benefit will enable APB to become a self-sustaining operation with the profits of every production funding the expenses of the next, thus requiring very little of my own time or capital.”

To promote APB, Billimoria felt the need for a "hugely successful show.” He thought of Neil Simon who for a couple of decades was the king of comedy on Broadway. However, most of his plays being set in the early 1900s, much of the humor was lost on the present generation so Billimoria decided to adapt Sunshine Boys to the Indian scenario from its earlier New York setting.

The original script of Sunshine Boys is about two actors who were immensely popular as the Sunshine Boys for 43 years until one of them chose to retire without warning resulting in 11 years of estrangement. A mutual love for their profession and laughter brought them together on TV when they learnt to let go of their differences. The central characters Willy Clark and Al Lewis, now renamed Fali Daruvala and Gurvinder Galgotia, are played by Billimoria and Dr Sanjeev Johri. "In the original there are references to vaudeville (a comic theatrical piece combining pantomime, dialog, dance and song). Today very few New Yorkers will know about vaudeville,” observes Billimoria.

Top and above: Percival Billimoria (in overcoat) and Dr Sanjeev Johri in scenes from Sunshine Boys

"The actual production proved to be more of a challenge. It takes a lot of hard work and effort to make people laugh! There’s no money in theater and it is in many ways a more difficult medium than a motion picture,” Billimoria as the director had written in the souvenir for the maiden production.

Last year four shows of Sunshine Boys ran to a full house each time followed by invitations to perform for the American Centre as also the Kala Ghoda Festival in February this year, reports Billimoria. For the coming shows at the NCPA Experimental Theatre on Thursday, November 18, Sophia Bhabha Hall on Saturday, November 20 and St Andrews Auditorium on Friday November 26 donor passes are priced at Rs 500 and available at Rhythm House or the venue some days in advance (for further information call 9821127654).

The children from the four Bombay charities are not expected to attend the three shows but specially geared for them are certain programs like Building Blocks Expressionistic Art, Read a little, learn a lot — an interactive session, and Conversations over Chai — a panel discussion. These events are sponsored by Anu Aga and Jimmy Mody. A brochure will carry a collection of drawings by the children of these organizations. There is an opportunity to associate with these drawings by sponsoring each for Rs 25,000. The sponsor’s name will appear in a strip below the drawing. The advertiser is then entitled to six free tickets to the show at either Sophia or Andrews, notes their handout. While Eddie and Pervin Poonawala of Comart are doing all the artworks for the brochure, Maneck Davar of Spenta Multimedia will be printing the brochure free of cost.

"Working together on an event like this will benefit each one of us, giving us opportunities to share ideas and experiences. There is not enough sharing between the NGOs in Bombay and this project we feel is an important step in the right direction,” mentions Lyla Mehta, joint honorary director of EAR. "Today there is a wider range of donors but the task of raising money is still difficult,” sums up Mehta explaining how they propose to use the donations generated: "Acoustic equipment is expensive and nearly all our children come from low income homes. Some of the money raised would be set aside for hearing aids, etc which have to be bought and maintained on a regular basis, some would go into our fund for cochlear implant surgery and some kept for the special infrastructure we have to build into our premises like testing rooms, sound proof cubicles, etc.”

"Shared fundraising is a rather unique concept in the NGO space so MMC welcomed the chance to join hands with other organizations towards this end. While all four organizations do different work, we are all tied together by the common thread of working with children and working in education,” conveyed Vrishali Pispati, chief executive officer of MMC. The funds raised will allow MMC to continue to serve over 5,000 children annually between the ages of 0-14 years in 28 day care centers around Bombay, providing healthy nutrition, education and the chance for a happy childhood.

"Collaboration between NGOs is becoming increasingly important to impact systemic problems that go beyond the capacity of any single organization,” stressed Novela Corda from CHIP. "We hope the funds generated will finance our ongoing education and health projects in BMC schools plus enable us to provide educational opportunities to many more children who would otherwise be left behind.”

With the donations generated "we will be able to reach out to more underprivileged girl children and provide them with academic and material support,” states Nalini Das, head, Nanhi Kali Mar­keting adding, "The foundation of Project Nanhi Kali was laid on the firm conviction that education and literacy of women has a far reaching positive multiplier impact on our nation’s economy. In more ways than one, this association with four NGOs complements each other’s work and together as a team we are able to address many issues related to children and education.”

To Billimoria personally, this effort promises to be "loads of fun” and for all the four collaborators, "a win-win formula,” for they recognize that coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress and working together is success.