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IACA President Sneha Mehta, Sanatan Mandir President Bharat Kotecha, & volunteers with the Drama troupe |
Scintillating Gujarati Comedy ‘Patni Saddhar to Pati Addhar’ regales Atlanta community By Mahadev Desai Pics.by Bharat Kotecha India American Cultural Association (IACA) along with Sanatan Mandir organized a scintillating super-hit Gujarati Comedy play; ‘Patni Saddhar to Pati Addhar’ sponsored by Manikant Patel, Gujarati Samaj of New York and performed by Mumbai-based Khel Rangara Group at the IACA auditorium, on Friday, April 8. In a brief interview, seasoned comedy queen Pratima T. informed the writer that Khel Rangara Group ,founded in 1978 has performed over 2,000 shows of this entertaining comedy, which has been staged in London, East and South Africa, Europe, Dubai, and Singapore. The most widely travelled Group has performed many Gujarat plays in the US since 1985, and this is its 62nd trip. This time the Group has already performed 14 shows in the past two weeks and expects to perform 45 shows by the end of May this year. The comedy has been written and directed by the late Sri.Bimal Mangaliya, who sadly passed away on 1st February, 2010. Prolific writer Sri Mangaliya has written over 130 plays with diverse themes. Pratima complimented Jitu Kotak, for his stellar role not only as an actor but also as a Tour organizer and marketing manager. Jitu has been with the Group for the past 20 years. The Group has won many accolades but the crowning one was in 2005, when Khel Rangara Group, along with Pratima T. and Jitu Kotak had the singular honor to be recognized by the House of Commons, London. Pratima also lauded seasoned and versatile T/V, films and stage actor Ishwarbhai Patel who has been with the Group for the past 40 years. And she commended cast members Urvish Parikh, Neha Panchal and Mitwa Asar who are also active in films,T/V serials and plays.” Our plays are not only entertaining but also deal with pertinent social issues and family values. They also offer glimpses into rich Gujarati culture and traditions.” The audience here is very engaging, receptive and warm hearted, so we always enjoy performing our plays here.”  A sumptuous dinner prepared by the volunteers was relished by the attendees prior to the performance of the play. After Sanatan Mandir of Atlanta’s President Bharat Kotecha welcomed all and recognized IACA President Sneha Mehta, Acharya Pramod Padhiji recited shlokas to bless the event. Kotecha thanked all the sponsors of the event and exhorted all to attend IACA’s events and support them as much as they can.”Always find an excuse or reason to support us” he said. Sneha Mehta thanked the audience for its support and requested them to attend the ‘Sargam Musical Night” at the IACA auditorium on April 30.” The plot is simple. The play begins with villagers Ratni (Pratima T.) and hero (Jitu Kotak), who are deeply in love and are already engaged, poke fun at Radhika (Mitwa Asar) who is looking for a suitable boy to marry. Hero leaves Ratni behind and moves to Mumbai where he finds a job with old, white-bearded, stingy widower Dolatrai Sheth (Ishwar Patel).Sheth is a hard task master, who piles on office work as well as domestic chores on Hero. His daughter, lonesome Kiran (Neha Panchal) is dating Kiran (Urvish Parikh), son of Sheth’s business rival. Radhika gets married and Ratni who is feeling lonely in the village arrives at the Sheth residence and she too finds job as a maid.Kirti becomes pregnant and Sheth is naturally upset and angry. Ratni suggests that Sheth should get her married to a poor, illiterate orphan and pack them off to Dubai. Sheth who is unable to find a match suddenly thinks of marrying Kirti to Hero. Hero who, is dreaming of inheriting Sheth’s fortune agrees readily. Ratni is livid with Hero, who tries to dump her. Ratni outwits Hero by tempting and teasing Sheth who agrees to leave his fortune to her if she marries him. Readers are requested to go watch the play to find out how Ratni wins back Hero and helps Kiran and Kirti tie the nuptial knot. The play ends of a happy note. Pratima T. commands the stage in this bubbly, breezy, laugh-a-minute comedy. She regales the audience with her rib-tickling one-liners and her impromptu interaction with the audience. She displays the depth of her acting talent in poignant and heart tugging scene when Hero tries to dump her. She endears to the audience with her wisecracks, like” Don’t go to the US, “she tells Hero,” it is only for Patels who can run hotels and motels.” “Kanjibhai lost crores selling petrol but made crores selling milk” she tells Sheth.” How come?” asks Sheth. “Well, because you can’t add water to petrol”” Let’s have lots of children, so we can form our own IPL Team” she quips. Long standing and talented stage actors Jitu Kotak and Ishwar Patel also give brilliant performances. Urvish, Mitwa, Neha and Sam Patel (a brief appearance as Bhai) have smaller roles but give impressive performances. Sam Patel is also the Group Manager and Tour Manager.
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