The coronavirus pandemic-induced lockdown was no deterrent to the Calcutta Parsee Amateur Dramatic Club’s (CPADC) 113-year-old tradition of staging a play on Parsi New Year. They merely shifted the venue to YouTube on August 16, 2020. Over 170 people logged in on that date to watch the show. The event last had 1,239 views on the streaming platform. The 20-minute comedy Batli Boleche (The Bottle Talks) had viewers logging in from all over India. "We also had people from Dubai, Perth and Texas,” noted actor and CPADC stalwart Yezdi Karai in an email to Parsiana.
(Top, from l) Indrani Anklesaria, Yezdi Karai, Ratan Postwalla: cast of Batli
Boleche; (above) scene from the play: moving a 113-year-old tradition on-line
The play revolved around the inebriated Pesi (Karai) who is in a constant strife with his wife Mehru, played by Indrani Anklesaria. Watching, and intervening with little success is their son Rusi, played by Ratan Postwalla. Rusi has to deal with his father discovering a "new mummy” for him on dating platform Tinder. The second half of the play revolves around the new mummy, also played by Anklesaria in her avatar of "Darling.” As is inevitable, Pesi’s shenanigans are discovered by his wife. "We adapted the script from a nine-minute skit we saw on the net. Director Cyrus (Madan) and I added about 11 minutes of script,” Karai wrote.
The play was preceded by a musical act featuring musician and songster Kaizad Gherda who composed, arranged and sang an ode to the Parsis of the city to the rhythm of Guyanese-British musician Eddy Grant’s anti apartheid number Gimme Hope Jo’anna. Composed by Madan, who is also trustee of their apex body Calcutta Zoroastrian Community’s Religious and Charity Fund, the lines went: "Raise a toast, Calcutta, raise a toast/Say Salut, Calcutta, say Salut/Say L’chaim, Calcutta, say L’chaim/Before they fade into obscurity.” Madan presented an audiovisual of Gherda’s contribution to the musical journey of CPADC for the past 10 years. The evening’s finale brought back the 2016 cast of Savaksa Ni Sex Badlai (Savaksa’s sex has changed). "They relived their roles including the riotous ending of Savaksa (Postwalla) being stripped off his wig and assorted feminine accessories,” noted Karai.
"We shall not speak of ovaryu (inauspicious) things like corona and other matters,” announced compere Tehnaz Punwani at the start of the evening, before inviting Ervad Jimmy Taraporwalla to lead the audience in prayer. Madan narrated that the trio in the cast of the play had seven to eight rehearsals on Zoom and three live ones. The production was filmed on August 10… next year
we would like to see (the audience) in an auditorium ... and yes, even see you shoot paper planes onto the stage,” something which could not be done in an online staging, said Madan.
Khordad Sal (August 21) saw the community bonding yet again over drama. The Calcutta Parsee Club’s (CPC) "Drama Kids” founded in March this year by Karai presented a satire called Actor, actor, where art thou, about auditioning for the roles of Romeo and Juliet. The curtain call in which comedian Cyrus Broacha participated "became a 30-minute add-on to the 50-minute show,” Karai stated. Singer Gary Lawyer rendered his version of singer Johnny Mathis’ A Time For Us from West Side Story and later Romeo and Juliet also.
The nine-to-17-year-olds who took part in the event have never acted together on a physical stage. Karai said he taught them basics of acting "in Zoom workshops during April… They performed their first show, A Star Is Born on Zoom on May 4, adding that "each has their own style and repertoire. The more they rehearse, (the more) they discover different versions of themselves. It encourages me to find more material that they can work with.”
Karai listed the young participants: Ayanah Gupta, Ariyanah Mehta, Yasna Buchia, Nirvhan Mehta Vyas, Pallaavi Banerji, Danish Buchia, Anisa Anklesaria, Aarshia Gupta, Nicaya Basavaraj, Samara Mehta Vyas and Darius Modi.
The shows can be seen on the YouTube channels of CPADC and CPC.