Casting a spell

Instead, you sit securely in your chair, feeling a bit like a Peeping Tom, unable to turn away. Little do you realise that you have played directly in to Hosi Vasunia’s hands. This is exactly the effect the director is hoping for from audiences with Barefoot in Mumbai.

An adaptation of the famous Neil Simon play Barefoot in the Park, Vasunia’s play substitues New York with Mumbai, adds a dollop of city-specific references and ends up a close cousin of the original rather than a flat adaptation. So muchso, that all the raging, ranting and raving contained in a one-room South Mumbai flat — a studio apartment common to both New York and Mumbai — starts to feel like a slice of everyman’s (or woman’s) life.

Barefoot in Mumbai is about a young couple so newly wed that they have yet to unpack their wedding gifts or furniture for that matter. They have shifted to their new apartment and are trying to settle in when they are greeted by a retinue of oddball neighbours. Nikki loves them, Rahul cannot stand them, Anita finds herself having a close encounter with one of them and Sam Kerawalla (played by Vasunia) ends up sparking off The Row. Post a simple dinner invitation where they go and eat Levti (an old Parsi dish) and consume vast quantities of arrack. It begins with Anita and Sam pairing up — and deciding to drive to Vashi for a lark — and ends with Nikki cracking Rahul’s reserve and demanding a divorce. Of course, it all ends well.

As a matter of fact, for the team of actors as well. The timingof the play is excellent. Even though the cast has been rehearsing only for a month and a half, they work well together. Largely because of Vasunia’s style of functioning. While he has adapted the play ("Devika helped me, it’s a combined effort," says Vasunia) and is directing it, all the rehearsals have been a team effort. If he forgets to cue someone, one of the other actors pipe up, "Move to the left, flank each other on the third line." Not hesitating even when the director is playing the actor.

Barefoot in Mumbai has the same relaxed pace as Rahul da Cunha’s I’m Not Bajirao. Largely due to the fact that the adaptation is filled with funny one-liners and Mumbai stereotypes. The play will also use Javed Jafferi `Mum-bhai‘ and `Musu, Musu‘ from Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi. It also does not slip into Hinglish to get laughs. The play uses Hindi only once, that too when Nikki speaks to the delivery man.

Again the credit goes to Vasunia for not tampering with a great play."The script was perfect. I saw no need to change it," says he. Hands down the winner here is the playwright. There isn’t a single superfluous line, the timing is perfect and the humour timeless. Even a bad cast would find it difficult to ruin the play and here the crew is more than competent. The two-act play has theatre veterans Vasunia and Navaz Hiloowalla, newcomer Sumanto Chattopadhyay (O&M Advertising’s creative director) and Mumbai’s theatre’s most promising new star Devika Shahani.

Barefoot in the Park is a play that works anywhere — even as a film Simon’s script worked (largely due to Robert Redford). Just swap New York for Mumbai and Barefoot in Mumbai has all the same qualities. Young couples, quarrels and characters. Big cities have a way of crossing cultural boundaries.

Barefoot in Mumbai at Sophia Auditorium, Sophia College. On July 17 and July 18. Time: 7.30 pm.