Play it again, Behram

Each year the Calcutta Parsi Amateur Dramatic Club (CPADC) finds solutions to its casting challenges from a diminishing pool of actors. The troupe, which firmly believes that the show must go on, staged its 115th consecutive play, Behram ni Sasu (Behram’s mother-in-law) on Parsi New Year, August 16, 2022. The play is adapted from playwright Phiroze Antia’s classic and was directed by Cyrus Madan. They roped in thespian Noshir Wadia to reprise his 1977 role, persuaded Delna Wadia, Noshir’s daughter to go on stage for the first time, and brought back Gaver Chatterjee to the stage after 34 years. Other actors included Pervez Kaikobad, Indrani Anklesaria, Ratan Postwalla, Dolly Majumdar, Yezdi Karai and Tenaz Punwani.

Calcutta Parsi Amateur Dramatic Club: keeping theater alive with Behram ni Sasu

"It was like he (Noshir) had never left the stage” wrote Karai in a note on the event sent to Parsiana. He was "Fali, imbibing whisky to deal with his battle-axe wife, Mani (Punwani). Chatterjee "made a very welcome return as Mehru, their daughter, in the truly difficult role of dealing with the crossfire between her mother Mani and Behram her husband,” noted Karai. Delna’s "role as the scatterbrained, Bollywood aspiring Kumi confirmed that acting genes do pass from the father… Her dance moves assure her of wolf whistles for many years to come,” noted Karai. An emotional maid, a new born child that has to be hidden, a pup that is forbidden in the family home and a velvet sapat all added to the laughs, noted Karai.
"CPADC’s signature on any script is introducing music and dance,” he noted. The audience appreciated the curtain raiser, Luciano Pavarotti’s O Sole Mio, Elvis Presley’s It’s Now or Never, and the Trini Lopez classic Shame and Scandal in The Family, among others. Appropriately, Baha Men’s Who Let the Dogs Out is played when Behram strikes back at his mother-in-law Mani, smirked Karai. Bollywood numbers featured as well, he said.
Spenta Wadia provided the musical cues; Swati Daver uncovered Delna’s dancing talent and provided the "annual miracle of converting the two left feet of Ratan Postwalla” who played Behram’s sidekick, noted Karai.
Karai issued a spoiler alert for our readers: A medical test turns positive. Could it have been a false positive? "Check out the play on YouTube to find out,” he added.