Invitation
Ayub Khan-Din
Rafta Rafta
Press
Photos
Reviews
|
| Ayub Khan-Din’s Rafta Rafta - May 5, 2008 |
Rafta Rafta
By Sangeeta Kumar
|
 |
Rafta Rafta, Ayub Khan-Din’s adaptation of Bill Naughton’s All in Good Time, presented by the New Group, should have theater-goers lining up at the Box-Office for its sheer star power.
Set in Bolton, England, the plot revolves around a newly betrothed young couple Vina (Reshma Shetty) and Atul (Manish Dayal), a movie projectionist, and their rapidly deteriorating relationship because Atul’s having a bit of an arousal issue - a room in the parents’ home, even if it’s plastered with Bollywood movie posters, just doesn’t lend itself to romance.
The first half is a vivid introduction to the characters and to the plot. Vina’s affections for her father, Laxman Patel (Alok Tewari), |
|
and apparent hostility towards her mother, Lata Patel (Sarita Choudhury) is the antithesis of Atul’s relationship with his parents Lopa Dutt (Sakina Jaffery) and Eeshwar Dutt (Ranjit Chaudhary). The second half, punctuated by riotous punch-lines, is devoted to both sets of parents attempting to sensitively address the 'problem'.
Clumsy attempts at sex notwithstanding, the play’s audacity numbs the otherwise sordid issues of class, generational conflicts and assimilation. The creative set works well to effectively capture the oddities of the immigrant working class.
It’s difficult to single out any performance but it would be trite to not mention the crowd-pullers. Ranjit Chaudhary as the boys’ bullying father is energetic, a natural. Sakina Jaffrey, as his alternately nagging and cajoling wife has you rooting for her and her son. Finally, Sarita Chaudhary, almost unrecognizable as the staid Mrs. Lata Patel, Vina’s mother, says it all with her trademark rolling of the eyes. Having the three of them on stage together is a coup of sorts. Alison Wright sparkles as Molly Bhatt, the wife of Atul’s cinema-hall boss, played by N.T Krishnan.
The play is reminiscent of Khan’s East Is East but this staging manages to bridge the chasm between slapstick and subtle and carves out a hilarious middle ground. Since dysfunctional Indian family life is not entrenched into the mainstream psyche here, as it is in Britain, this production is likely to be appreciated primarily by South Asian audiences.
Rafta Rafta is playing through June 21 at the Acorn Theater, 410 West 42nd Street, New York, NY. (212) 279-4200
Photos courtesy: (AP Photo/Monique Carboni,The Karpel Group)
|
| http://www.egothemag.com/archives/2008/05/rafta_rafta_1.htm |
| |
|
