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.