For laughing out loud

An Adi Marzban retro seemed like entertainment re-visited for the packed crowd, not a seat available for love or money. Love (or the lack of it), certainly was the main theme of the skits. Held on April 17, 2012 and again on June 9, 2012 at the Tata Theatre in Bombay, the performance of Laughter in the House saw yesteryear stalwarts brandishing their talent. The performance was inspired by a recently published coffeetable book by the same name authored by Meher Marfatia and Sooni Taraporevala. Ruby and Burjor Patel, Dolly and Bomi Dotiwala, Scheherezade and Rohinton Mody, Villoo Panthaki, Moti Antia, Jerry Kumana and Pervez Mehta, all dating to the time of Marzban himself, performed. Master of ceremonies Jim Vimadalal wove together the threads of the skits.

Scenes from skits featuring (l-r) Ruby Patel, Bomi Dotiwala, Huzan Wadia; Burjor and Ruby Patel; Dotiwala Photos: Sooni Taraporevala

Director Sam Kerawalla, following in the footsteps of his mentor, ferreted out new talent which burst into song and dance routines à la Parsi natak style. Farah Ghadiali with her trained soprano voice also displayed acting talent, as did Huzan Wadia acting as the Marzbanes­que flirty ganga (maid servant). Shah­rukh and Danesh Irani were drawn in as songsters in one more Marzbanes­que qawwali in the gender war. No play of apro Aduli was complete without this no-win war of the sexes. The Parsi touch was in the turn of phrase, the kor ni sari, the red of the men from topi to ijar. This was what brought down the house and the curtain at the end of the show. Some of the bawdy humor peeked through the skits.
Hormaz Khambatta and his troupe coordinated a Bollywood style performance with glitterati on stage to match those off it. The surprise item was Danny Boy sung by the multi talented Boman Irani who had been a Marzban find when just 12 years old. Irani paid tributes to Marzban and Uma Pocha, wife of late Jimmy, also a Marzban loyalist. It was Uma who had taught him the second verse of this perennial favorite.
Marzban’s talent seems to lie in characterizing the human condition, the archetypes. So in the skits were the gori pori, the hen-pecked husband, the plaguing wife, the philanderer, the innocent, the worldly-wise — the entire Parsi drama as it unfolds century after century.

Mehroo Kotval