An Idiot for dinner - Review

The sole reason I wanted to watch the play “An Idiot for Dinner” was because it was presented by Evam. A group whose plays have always made me laugh and de stress. And the other reason being it was staged on Sunday evening at Ranga Shankara, the ‘heaven’ for all theater lovers in Bangalore. This play is based on a French movie, ‘A Dinner of Idiots’. It was this film, on which the Hindi movie ‘Bheja Fry’ was also based. The star cast includes Praveen, Sarvesh, Gibran, and Uttara with Michael Muthu as the director.

There is this group of rich men who have fun every Wednesday. And what is the fun they have? They have fun at the expense of an ‘IDIOT’. They call an idiot over for dinner and just have fun. The main protagonist Mr. Sanjay Khelavkar’s wife, Aparna, hates this very idea of having fun at cost of another person. When asked as to how they get the idiots, Sanjay replies, it’s a real difficult man hunt. One Wednesday evening, they have a fight over this and she leaves him. It is on the same day an ‘Idiot’ R Golden Gopu comes home for dinner. It so happens that on this day Sanjay’s back is in a bad shape and he cannot move around. He is at mercy of Gopu, though he despises the idea. Gopu comes to know that Sanjay’s wife has left him. Sanjay is forced to ask Gopu to make the phone calls, to know the whereabouts of his wife, which turn out to be his demonstration of his idiocy. Gopu calls his friend Hariharan for help, as Hari is be the only person who could help them get the address which was mentioned by Sanjay’s friend Sameer. This adds on to the confusion. Towards the end it so seems that Gopu actually will sort out the differences between Sanjay and his wife, but the ‘Idiot’ that he is he ends it with one more blunder, a cherry on top of the cake.

The cast was amazing. Praveen did a swell job as Sanjay. The ease with which he handled certain situations, like he tripping over the telephone wire time and again by mistake, was made to look as if it was etched in the screenplay. Gibran as Sameer also did his part well. Sarvesh as Golden Gopu was splendid. He was so in skin with the character. The person who stole the show was Ishwar as Hari. His comic timing, body language, dialogue delivery and expression were excellent.

The set was very nice and they had utilized the time in the interval to change the set. The lights were used very well. It completely depicted the mood of the play. The make up and costumes complimented the characters. The direction by Michael Muthu, made the play what it was.

The audience thoroughly enjoyed the play. They were applauding and had such a good time that it showed the quality of the play. I would definitely recommend this laugh riot. Do watch it the next time it is staged in the city. A complete de stressor, you will come out of the theater refreshed.

Barking dogs seldom bite

In the toastmasters meeting yesterday, I got this topic for an impromptu talk. The meaning of the proverb says that any person who keeps giving tall talks, threatening will never do anything what he says.

But I was just thinking about this topic and a totally different approach to this proverb cropped up. We know dogs bark. What do we do when they keep barking for a long time? What are our emotions when the dog keeps barking? All we want to do is to just get rid of the bark by giving it what it wants so that we can be at peace. Right!

I have an uncle who keeps barking at everyone when he wants something to be done. He is at the nose at of the person when he talks, for ever barking his orders and instructions.So all we do is to do what ever he asks and move away from his vicinity.

Don’t you think the same thing happens to a person who barks at people to get things done? All we do it is just do what he/she says so that he stops barking. We eventually even start avoiding/ignoring that person. Though that person might have very good ideas it will be a loss to him and everyone around as no one takes him seriously. Everyone around him just non verbally cover their ears with their hands to make him stop barking. So actually in this case the barking dog is actually biting us and irritating us to the core.

I am sure all of us go through this phase where we want to bark to prove a point. But why should we do it? Haven’t we always been taught “Never raise your voice” from our childhood. Why do we forget this? The same things what we say in a raised tone, can be said in a calm fashion, then the things we mean are actually listened to. Let’s all try NOT to be barking dogs, whenever we feel or we lose our cool.

Reviving my old blog writing

I am going to start writing after years.... I really dunno why I stopped it. Lets see how it goes now..

Do watchout for this space :)