[Reader-list] FESTIVAL OF HINDI COMEDIES BY RAMESH MEHTA, New Delhi

[rohitrellan at aol.in]

ThreeArts Club and Katyayani celebrate the work of social satirist Ramesh Mehta byholding a festival of three of his most popular Hindi plays—Paisa Bolta Hai! Uljhan & Under Secretary. September 28, 29 &30th, at Shri Ram Centre, Mandi House, 6:30 p.m., directed bySohaila Kapur. Inauguration by the director of the National School of Drama,Ms. Anuradha Kapur, on Sept 28.
 
Entryfree on a first come, first served basis
 
The Master:
 
RameshMehta was an institution in himself. He specialized in social satires and someof his plays like Under Secretary, DhaiAkhar Prem Ka, Dhong, Hamara Gaon, Faisla etc. have become milestonesof  modern Hindi theatre.. His Hamara Gaon was commissioned by the thenPrime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru, as a play about emerging new India. Hisaudience included luminaries like Prime ministers Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, ChaudhuryCharan Singh, Presidents Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Dr. Zakir Husain, Actors Prithviraj Kapoor, Motilal, Shobhana Samarth, Sunder and Sajjan.Sajjan infact, worked with Mehta in theatre before joining films. Mehta’s playswere the first to give a platform to women on the Delhi stage.
Hewas awarded the Chamanlal Memorial Award forlifetime achievement, the Sahitya Kala Parishad Delhi Award, Delhi Natya SanghAward, Uttar Pradesh Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, as well as the Sangeet NatakAkademi Award in 2007.  The King of HindiSitcoms passed away in May this year and this is our tribute to him.
 
PaisaBolta Hai talks about the primacy of money in ourlives. A maltreated menial finds his life transformed after a financialwindfall. Life in the house goes topsy turvy after the incident. The playcelebrated its diamond jubilee when it ran initially and is still one of Mehta’smost popular satires. On Friday, Sept 28.
 
 
Uljhanis a youthful, romantic comedy about an astuteBluffmaster who is outwitted in his own game by the beautiful woman he fallsfor.  On Sat, Sept 29.
 
 
UnderSecretary focuses on middle class hypocrisy, Mehta’sfavourite theme. It broke  all records of popularity and has beentranslated into many Indian languages including Tamil, Malayalam, Sindhi,Bengali and Gujarati.  On Sun,Sept 30th.