Laughter In The House: Meher Marfatia On Parsi Theatre

Date

July 15, 2011

Post by

arZan

Category

Books | Theater

That Sunday afternoon was as soggy with nostalgia as a khari biscuit dunked in chai. Fifty old troupers of Mumbai’s Parsi stage had reunited to celebrate a new book, Laughter in the House. They met over as hearty a lunch at the Irani Universal Cafe on a road aptly named after the remarkable playwright and director, Adi Marzban. Further up the street stood Jame Jamshed, Asia’s second-oldest newspaper which ‘apro Adu’ also owned and edited.

By Bachi Karkaria | The Times of India

With archive, anecdote and admiration, Meher Marfatia’s book covers the most prolific years of Parsi theatre. Merely flipping through the corny names of the plays and slapstick photographs was enough to crack me up. But the tears rolling down my face were also of sadness, for that afternoon encapsulated death thrice told. It reminded me of the tragic disappearance of this hilarious brand of theatre, of the quaint Irani restaurant, and of the Parsis’ rare ability to laugh at themselves.

Universal Cafe resounded with back slapping, ‘Kem Sala’-ing, beer guzzling and dhansak-gorging. On the steps, there was much posing and more chaos as Sooni Tarporevala captured this sepia moment. Looking around, i tried to match a revised face to the old familiar names. Were these stooped and greying figures the same drop-dead gorgeous heroines and comic heroes who once dropped dead with histrionic regularity, keeping all the Gujarati-speaking communities of Mumbai in such splits?

The likes of Burjor and Ruby Patel, Jimmy Pocha, Dadi Sarkari, Jerry Kumana and the portly Dinyar Contractor were also part of my adolescent years in Calcutta, for Adi Marzban’s patented magic came to Calcutta in the mid-1960s.

But we were prouder of our own Calcutta Parsi Amateur Dramatic Club, with its own anthem, gold emblazoned velvet banner, and its hardy perennials who met every Sunday for five whole months on the fourth floor of a faded Bowbazar mansion to rehearse for just one play every year. Mock them not. This ‘Pateti Natak’ was the annual ritual around which our small outpost community coalesced to renew its bonds. Dressed in our new year clothes, we did kissi-koti to each other, bent double with laughter, threw paper darts at the stage, and in the interval drank the free Byron & Co Vimto provided by its owner, the venerable Edulji Olpadwala.

Last year, shortly after the CPADC’s centenary, there was no Pateti Natak, traumatising a tiny kaum deprived of its annual oxygenation. In the larger home-base of Mumbai, Parsi theatre, spiked with clever double entendre, had lapsed into a vulgar whimper of its rip-roaring self almost a decade earlier.

Irani restaurants, the second in that fading trilogy, have been decimated by a worse atrocity, turning into video-parlours, beer bars or even a McDonald’s. Gustad Dehmiri’s bright and airy Universal Cafe belongs to a pav-sized group of doughty survivors. It’s surprising how entrepreneurial Mumbai has let this lucrative chance slip by. The Light of Persia clones have the most prime locations, and could easily be reincarnated as a stylishly retro dining experience, complete with their bentwood chairs, sweet lemongrass and mint tea, bun-maska – and a dour Shukriyeh Kayani manning the cash counter.

Which brings me to my third and last requiem of that Sunday afternoon. Perhaps the Mumbai Parsis aren’t laughing good-naturedly at themselves on stage any longer because they no longer have much to laugh good-naturedly about in real life. An exemplary community which never got into communal conflict is now at war with itself, its leaders squabbling for the spoils. We were too busy laughing to have understood the large-hearted significance of Parsi theatre. We now have all the time in the world to weep over everything else that has fallen with the curtain.

13 Comments

  1. Homi_mistry

    Justice should have been done to Baliwala’s and such other old theatres.

  2. Homi_mistry

    Justice should have been done to Baliwala’s and such other old theatres.

  3. Homi_mistry

    Justice should have been done to Baliwala’s and such other old theatres.

  4. Mickie Sorabjee

    July17, 2011
    One has not flipped through the seminal volume so one is not aware who has been overlooked and who has been included in Meher Marfatia’s Laughter In the House – 20th Century Parsee Theatre.
      
    The peerless Adi Marzban was numero uno ParseeTheatre impresario and producer, director, playwright all rolled in one. His productions were synonymous with mirth and wholesome trendsetting entertainment, be they revues or plays. And his most  lingering and endearing character, a personal favourite, remains good friend and Parsee stage celebrity Jimmy Pocha at his inimitable hilarious best.
     
    But others also carved their niche in this community orb. The Empress Zoroastrian Dramatic Club comes to mind with  two of their plays Paakdaman Parsee Yaane Wafani Aarsi a three act play touted as Bholi Gul ni Parody  and  Gotala ma Gosh another parody of Romeo & Juliet both penned by Dr Jehangir Wadia and Dr Minoo Langarana.  Then there was the late Dorab R. Mehta who had his own fan following with over 41 of his scripted full length plays, staged over the years. There were other groups, but Adi and his ensemble reigned supreme in wit and humour.
     
    Like Bachi has reminisced about Calcutta, many satellite towns such as Surat and Pune boasted their own drama groups where outpost community members bonded during the stagings on festive Naoroz. Once upon a time in amchi Mumbai, Marzban’s Naoroz play/programme was the place to be seen at blowing a kiss to and hugging social friends and pushing off for a family dinner at the best five star eatery after gushing goodbyes.
     Parsee Theatre as we know it in these past two decades is a pale imitation and mishmash of the original scripts. No spit and polish only crude double entendre where the amateur new comers cannot hold a candle to the old troupers. As Jimmy’s wife Uma always crooned the perennial favourite in her husky voice at all Adi Marzban’s variety shows “…….Those were the days my friend I thought they’d never end…….”  Alas the curtain has come down on the good old times of laughter in the house as it used to be.

  5. Mickie Sorabjee

    July17, 2011
    One has not flipped through the seminal volume so one is not aware who has been overlooked and who has been included in Meher Marfatia’s Laughter In the House – 20th Century Parsee Theatre.
      
    The peerless Adi Marzban was numero uno ParseeTheatre impresario and producer, director, playwright all rolled in one. His productions were synonymous with mirth and wholesome trendsetting entertainment, be they revues or plays. And his most  lingering and endearing character, a personal favourite, remains good friend and Parsee stage celebrity Jimmy Pocha at his inimitable hilarious best.
     
    But others also carved their niche in this community orb. The Empress Zoroastrian Dramatic Club comes to mind with  two of their plays Paakdaman Parsee Yaane Wafani Aarsi a three act play touted as Bholi Gul ni Parody  and  Gotala ma Gosh another parody of Romeo & Juliet both penned by Dr Jehangir Wadia and Dr Minoo Langarana.  Then there was the late Dorab R. Mehta who had his own fan following with over 41 of his scripted full length plays, staged over the years. There were other groups, but Adi and his ensemble reigned supreme in wit and humour.
     
    Like Bachi has reminisced about Calcutta, many satellite towns such as Surat and Pune boasted their own drama groups where outpost community members bonded during the stagings on festive Naoroz. Once upon a time in amchi Mumbai, Marzban’s Naoroz play/programme was the place to be seen at blowing a kiss to and hugging social friends and pushing off for a family dinner at the best five star eatery after gushing goodbyes.
     Parsee Theatre as we know it in these past two decades is a pale imitation and mishmash of the original scripts. No spit and polish only crude double entendre where the amateur new comers cannot hold a candle to the old troupers. As Jimmy’s wife Uma always crooned the perennial favourite in her husky voice at all Adi Marzban’s variety shows “…….Those were the days my friend I thought they’d never end…….”  Alas the curtain has come down on the good old times of laughter in the house as it used to be.

  6. Mickie Sorabjee

    July17, 2011
    One has not flipped through the seminal volume so one is not aware who has been overlooked and who has been included in Meher Marfatia’s Laughter In the House – 20th Century Parsee Theatre.
      
    The peerless Adi Marzban was numero uno ParseeTheatre impresario and producer, director, playwright all rolled in one. His productions were synonymous with mirth and wholesome trendsetting entertainment, be they revues or plays. And his most  lingering and endearing character, a personal favourite, remains good friend and Parsee stage celebrity Jimmy Pocha at his inimitable hilarious best.
     
    But others also carved their niche in this community orb. The Empress Zoroastrian Dramatic Club comes to mind with  two of their plays Paakdaman Parsee Yaane Wafani Aarsi a three act play touted as Bholi Gul ni Parody  and  Gotala ma Gosh another parody of Romeo & Juliet both penned by Dr Jehangir Wadia and Dr Minoo Langarana.  Then there was the late Dorab R. Mehta who had his own fan following with over 41 of his scripted full length plays, staged over the years. There were other groups, but Adi and his ensemble reigned supreme in wit and humour.
     
    Like Bachi has reminisced about Calcutta, many satellite towns such as Surat and Pune boasted their own drama groups where outpost community members bonded during the stagings on festive Naoroz. Once upon a time in amchi Mumbai, Marzban’s Naoroz play/programme was the place to be seen at blowing a kiss to and hugging social friends and pushing off for a family dinner at the best five star eatery after gushing goodbyes.
     Parsee Theatre as we know it in these past two decades is a pale imitation and mishmash of the original scripts. No spit and polish only crude double entendre where the amateur new comers cannot hold a candle to the old troupers. As Jimmy’s wife Uma always crooned the perennial favourite in her husky voice at all Adi Marzban’s variety shows “…….Those were the days my friend I thought they’d never end…….”  Alas the curtain has come down on the good old times of laughter in the house as it used to be.

  7. Taralrevar

    Hi, My father, an avid & prolific reader that he is, has demanded from me a copy of the book Laughter In The House. But he mentions the authour’s name as Meher Tarapoorwala. I would like to request, if someone could help me locate a copy of the same. I may be reached at taralrevar@gmail.com.
    @gmail:twitter Thanks a lot.

  8. Taralrevar

    Hi, My father, an avid & prolific reader that he is, has demanded from me a copy of the book Laughter In The House. But he mentions the authour’s name as Meher Tarapoorwala. I would like to request, if someone could help me locate a copy of the same. I may be reached at taralrevar@gmail.com.
    @gmail:twitter Thanks a lot.

  9. Taralrevar

    Hi, My father, an avid & prolific reader that he is, has demanded from me a copy of the book Laughter In The House. But he mentions the authour’s name as Meher Tarapoorwala. I would like to request, if someone could help me locate a copy of the same. I may be reached at taralrevar@gmail.com.
    @gmail:twitter Thanks a lot.

  10. Taralrevar

    Hi, My father, an avid & prolific reader that he is, has demanded from me a copy of the book Laughter In The House. But he mentions the authour’s name as Meher Tarapoorwala. I would like to request, if someone could help me locate a copy of the same. I may be reached at taralrevar@gmail.com.
    @gmail:twitter Thanks a lot.

  11. Merchantsamir

    This book is available at Strand Book House at Fort for Rs. 1800/-

  12. Merchantsamir

    This book is available at Strand Book House at Fort for Rs. 1800/-

  13. Merchantsamir

    This book is available at Strand Book House at Fort for Rs. 1800/-