THE NEWS - REVIEW

Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Schezee Zaidi

Islamabad

The classic Urdu comic farce ‘Dinner with an Idiot’ presented by Faheem Azam in partnership with Events and Channel 7 being staged at the National Library of Pakistan auditorium brings a complete package of laughter filled comic mayhem of everyday life of a group of blundering idiots rubbing against a guy with a damaged back. Without employing extreme exaggeration and improbable dramatic incidents, the play runs in a very rapid pace with all the right ingredients and ‘masala’ of slapstick comedy, so that the viewer doesn’t get a chance to think too much between laughs and kicks. 

The must see show is more elusive than ordinary comedy. The scenes of the play has impeccable timings and a ready store of wit and humour as it opens with hilarious and riveting spectacle, not of great or heroic events, but of the ticklish and funny everyday realities presented with a wonderful theatrical twist by the young and energetic director. Kudos to Faheem Azam and his team for bringing the hilarity-filled venture in these edgy times to make life a bit lighter with laughter. 

The main idea of ‘Dinner with an Idiot’ is adapted from the French play ‘Le Diner de Cons’ also known as the ‘Dinner Game’. However, the play proves that Faheem Azam’s dexterous adaptation and scripting has only borrowed the main idea, while the entire play, from characters to various scenes, are rewritten with spicy details to suit the local cultural taste. True to his claim, Faheem Azam has successfully turned the much-acclaimed French play into a completely Pakistani Urdu version by adding piquant and luscious syntax from local Urdu and blending with the prevailing popular spoken mode used by the younger generation who refuses to be tied down with British English or the Lucknow Urdu, instead, they have invented a complete Pakistani linguistic fusion, which remains the central focus of the play that everyone could relate to and the audience responded with instantaneous up roaring laughter and applause. 

Faheem Azam has deftly portrayed the mood of his generation with words, gestures, favourite preoccupation and the unique bilingual modern lingua franca of this region, resulting in a tasty blend of Urdu with a pinch of English as salt & pepper for taste, again the touch of Pakistani version. 

With a masterly hand, Faheem kept the audience remain gladly glued in the confining apartment set without losing interest as the director played with their mood by bringing in the telephone as the means of communication and also as the tool to keep the plot moving forward. And then the humorous situation arising out of the ‘Water’ matter got the audience involved so much that one could hear people moan and groan with Hasan every time he asked for water and got none. Perhaps the audience could relate to the scene with their own experience in recent spate of water crisis hitting us! 

Coming to music, it’s a blessing that Faheem has not tried to flush the audience out with blasting dance numbers, but his selection of songs in small pieces comes as a surprising package of popular mellow numbers, that too not as an ‘Item number’ but only as per the demand of the scenes. 

The play rotates around the music director Hasan’s favourite past-time of indulging in base, frat-guy humour by inviting real-life “idiots” to private supper and then laughing at the unsuspecting, boorish guests. After Hasan and Saba parts with a brawl and Hasan’s damaged back in the first scene, a visitor Ashraf obsessed with an urge to become a singer enters the second scene and spends the whole evening soliloquizing about his singing talent, while his host Hasan stayed on his couch in back pain. Hasan is forced to stay home and never get to the “idiots” party. Instead, the “idiots” come to him and causes havoc with his time. Hasan met the consequences of making fun of others by getting in to the messy situation and start to go haywire by not only injuring his back and had to ask for help from his dinner idiots. Hasan’s life almost disintegrates as the overly-helpful idiots just about destroys his marriage, jeopardizes his finances by bringing in a scrupulous fellow tax collector, and pushes his sanity to the limit with a series of bungles.

The entire cast of the play demonstrates immense talent in portraying their roles. Dawar Mahmood and Urwa tul Wusqua plays the role of Hasan and Saba, the lead couple of the play, Mohsin Ejaz as Ashraf the singer, Shafqat Khan as the tax official, Farhatullah Babar as the forgetful doctor, Mahwash Kanwal as Kiran, the ex-girl friend, and Yazzi is introduced for the first time in the role of a typical ‘desi’ type classical ‘gawaiya’. With their talent and experience, the team is perfectly stitched and fine tuned for their roles and proved their talent as slapstick comedians for all times to come with the right actions to tickle the audience. 

The play ends with all the characters swinging on the evergreen golden hit number of the first pop idol of Pakistan Ahmad Rushdi, ‘jaisey jantey nehin, pehchantey nehin’ adding another feather to Faheem’s crown for giving a juicy ending with everyone living ‘happily ever after’ in a truly Pakistani style that was loved by all. 

Faheem Azam and his team deserves to be appreciated for their effort to revitalise Urdu theatre on the capital stage and its time the capital audience should also play their role to help set a true theatre culture in the city as per the traditions existing in cities like Lahore and Karachi by making a habit of buying tickets instead of fishing for passes. So what if CDA and other multinationals wants to keep a distance from Urdu comedies, the audience with their support can largely contribute and encourage such efforts to make the capital city culturally vibrant and happening place for Urdu theatre.