Remember the multi-starrer Bollywood film Amar, Akbar, Anthony? While the title of Meherzad Patel’s new comic play Amar, Akbar, Akoori gets its inspiration from the Manmohan Desai comedy, that’s where the similarities end. “I wanted to make a Gujarati play that could be enjoyed by Gujaratis and Bohris too. The idea of a play germinated there,” said Patel, director and writer of the play.
The story revolves around three young men — a Gujarati (Danesh Khambata), a Bohri Muslim (Sajeel Parakh) and a Parsi (Danesh Irani), who each take a room as paying guests in the house of a Parsi widow (played by Pheroza Mody), who needs help around the house. Trouble is that non-Parsis are not allowed to live in the building. The plot takes off when the three have to find ways to hide the fact that not all of them belong to the community.
“We did take enough digs at the community and the people associated with them — those dialogues stir up emotions in a hilarious, yet thought-provoking manner,” he adds.
Patel has been wanting to do this play for two years. “We did it now when we actually had the time to rehearse non-stop for a month,” he informs.
WHEN: 7 PM
WHERE: Tata Theatre, NCPA, Sir Dorab Tata Road, Nariman Point
ENTRY: Rs 200-1,200
TO BOOK: bookmyshow.com